SAN FRANCISCO: Now, a smartphone camera can become a diabetes doctor and accurately detect type 2 diabetes.
Experts at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have developed a new way to enable smartphone cameras to detect type 2 diabetes with 80% accuracy. University scientist Robert Oram and his colleagues have developed a special algorithm to detect diabetes, which is detected with the help of a camera.
This process is called ‘photophilitography’ (PPG) in the language of medicine. In this technique, light is applied to a skin or tissue, noting a decrease in blood volume. It should be noted that in the same way, the amount of oxygen in the blood and the pulse are detected by placing sensors on the index finger.
An algorithm was first developed for this and then it was considered whether the smartphone camera could show any damage or destruction to the blood vessels due to diabetes. Millions of PPG recordings were then stored in a large database and trained to distinguish between healthy and diseased tissues. PPG technology was then used to identify diabetes.
A total of more than 53,000 to 2.6 million PPG recordings were viewed throughout the experiment and all individuals were accurately diagnosed with diabetes. In another experiment, three groups of people were examined with a smartphone camera and cameras were placed on their fingers. The entire system identified diabetes with 80% accuracy.
Experts have described it as a less-effective test that can be used to diagnose diabetes with a regular smartphone.