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| How can your mobile phone tell you the signs of heart disease? |
Blood clotting is a serious problem. If your blood becomes too thin, you are at risk of hemorrhaging and the bleeding can be fatal. And if the blood thickens and clots, not only will the blood supply to your heart arteries be affected, but you may also be at risk of having a heart attack.
Doctors can diagnose whether your blood is too thin or too thick to clot, but they need a syringe filled with your blood to do this. But now you may soon be able to take your own test at home with your mobile phone.
Martin Cooper, the head of the team behind the world's first smartphone, said earlier this week that he believes mobile phones will soon become important tools for monitoring our health. And the signs of it are already visible.
The smartphone they developed is a small brick-like device with a few buttons but no screen.
In March 2022, scientists at the University of Washington used the iPhone to test the problem of blood clotting from a drop of blood. They used the mobile phone's light and distance sensors because these sensors use a pulsed beam of light to create 3D images of the phone's surroundings.
It's a technology that allows your phone to accurately measure the distance and objects in any image and render it in a blend of real and virtual worlds.
For example, it can show a sofa in a photo of your living room as it would look in your living room, and it helps improve the camera's autofocus when taking photos.
But it has also emerged that this sensor in mobile phones can be used to detect changes in the blood, such as thinning or thickening, or adulteration in milk. The light rays emitted from this sensor create a special pattern that is focused on the Maya condensation.
For example, varying the fat in milk changes the light pattern in a detectable way, as does blood clotting.
The researchers say that with this sensor, they can learn about the blood cell and their thickening or thinning from a small drop of blood on the glass.
In a recent study, a team of scientists used a mobile phone camera and vibration motor to detect a copper particle in the blood to assess blood clotting.
Other researchers are working on developing technology that allows you to monitor other things related to heart health, such as blood pressure, with your mobile camera.
The Canada University of Toronto and China's Hangzhou Normal University have developed algorithms that can assess blood circulation in the face from images taken from the front camera of a mobile phone.
A team of Chinese scientists has developed another similar algorithm that can identify your heart health by examining four images taken from a smartphone.
If you take four pictures, one from the front, two from the right and left sides of the face, and one from the top down, the algorithm can analyze them and identify signs related to heart health.
This algorithm evaluates subtle changes in your chin, forehead, and nose, such as facial wrinkles and subcutaneous fat, which are difficult to see with the human eye.
The technique correctly identified people with heart disease in about 80 percent of cases, while misdiagnosing it in 46 percent, which means it may cause some people to worry unnecessarily.
Cardiologists working at the China Heart Institute say the device could be a 'cheap, simple and effective' method for patients who need more check-ups.
It is hoped that shortly, smartphones will make heart diseases more affordable and easier to provide more reliable information about heart health.
Jennifer Miller, an engineer at the University of Southern California and a cardiologist at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, has created a prototype device that you can attach to your phone to perform ultrasounds and echocardiograms of the heart. How is the circulation of blood in the heart?
Although many of these inventions and technologies are still in the testing and research stages, there are still some ways you can get health information using your mobile phone.
Elizabeth Vivek, the author of the book 'Smartphone: Anatomy of an Industry', mentions an American start-up, Reva, which measures blood pressure using a mobile phone's camera and flash.
You put your fingers on your smartphone and it detects your blood pressure by checking the waves in your blood, which is "very surprising and awesome," she says.