Researchers turn an iPhone into an otoscope
September 28, 2012
A pediatric medical device being developed at Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA, USA) and Emory University (Atlanta, GA, USA) could make life easier for parents with children suffering from an ear infection.
The researchers' so-called Remotoscope is a clip-on attachment and software app that turns an iPhone into an otoscope, a medical device which is used by pediatricians to look into the ears to diagnose infection.
With Remotoscope, parents would be able to take a picture or video of their child’s eardrum using the iPhone and send the images digitally to a physician for diagnostic review.
Wilbur Lam, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, along with his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA, USA) is developing the device, and has plans to commercialize it.
Remotoscope's clip-on attachment uses the iPhone's camera and flash as the light source as well as a custom software app to provide magnification and record data to the phone. The iPhone’s data transmission capabilities send images and video to a doctor's inbox or to a patient's electronic medical record.
The device has the potential to save money for both families and healthcare systems, Lam says. Ear infections, or otitis media, affect 75 percent of children by age six, making it the most common diagnosis for preschoolers. They result in more than 15m office visits per year in the United States and thousands of prescriptions for antibiotics, which are sometimes not needed.
A clinical trial for the Remotoscope is currently under way to see if the device can obtain images of the same diagnostic quality as traditional otoscopes. The Food and Drug Administration, through the Atlanta Pediatric Device Consortium, is partially funding the trial.
More information on the Remotoscope can be found here.
Recent stories on the use of smartphones in imaging that you might also find of interest.
The researchers' so-called Remotoscope is a clip-on attachment and software app that turns an iPhone into an otoscope, a medical device which is used by pediatricians to look into the ears to diagnose infection.
With Remotoscope, parents would be able to take a picture or video of their child’s eardrum using the iPhone and send the images digitally to a physician for diagnostic review.
Wilbur Lam, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, along with his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA, USA) is developing the device, and has plans to commercialize it.
Remotoscope's clip-on attachment uses the iPhone's camera and flash as the light source as well as a custom software app to provide magnification and record data to the phone. The iPhone’s data transmission capabilities send images and video to a doctor's inbox or to a patient's electronic medical record.
The device has the potential to save money for both families and healthcare systems, Lam says. Ear infections, or otitis media, affect 75 percent of children by age six, making it the most common diagnosis for preschoolers. They result in more than 15m office visits per year in the United States and thousands of prescriptions for antibiotics, which are sometimes not needed.
A clinical trial for the Remotoscope is currently under way to see if the device can obtain images of the same diagnostic quality as traditional otoscopes. The Food and Drug Administration, through the Atlanta Pediatric Device Consortium, is partially funding the trial.
More information on the Remotoscope can be found here.
Recent stories on the use of smartphones in imaging that you might also find of interest.
1. iPhone app helps farmers manage fruit pickers
A new iPhone app called BucketLoad aims to help farmers manage teams of individuals who hand-pick crops such as blueberries, strawberries and citrus fruit during the harvest season.
2. Software transforms iPhone into a 3-D scanner
A researcher from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA, USA) has developed a software app that can transform the iPhone into a 3-D scanner.
3. iPhone camera app helps Australians select healthier foods
An Australian iPhone app has been launched to help shoppers make healthier food choices in the supermarket and reduce high levels of fat, salt, and sugar in their diets.
4. iPhone camera turned microscope diagnoses disease
A team of researchers from the University of California-Davis (Davis, CA, USA) has transformed an iPhone into a system that can perform detailed microscopy.
5. Smartphones measure radioactivity
Engineers at Image Insight (East Hartford, CT, USA) have developed a software app that uses the camera in an Android smart phone to measure radioactivity levels, allowing users to ensure their local environments are safe.
6. Mobile app helps track moles
A new free app developed at the University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) allows users to photograph suspicious moles or other skin lesions which they can then share with a dermatologist to obtain a medical diagnosis.
7. Turn your iPhone into an IR camera
Engineer Andy Rawson decided to turn his iPhone into a thermal camera by developing custom-built hardware and software solution that would interface to it.
8. Your image could save a stream
Individuals across the world can monitor watersheds and report their conditions using an iPhone application called Creek Watch that has been developed by IBM Research.
A new iPhone app called BucketLoad aims to help farmers manage teams of individuals who hand-pick crops such as blueberries, strawberries and citrus fruit during the harvest season.
2. Software transforms iPhone into a 3-D scanner
A researcher from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA, USA) has developed a software app that can transform the iPhone into a 3-D scanner.
3. iPhone camera app helps Australians select healthier foods
An Australian iPhone app has been launched to help shoppers make healthier food choices in the supermarket and reduce high levels of fat, salt, and sugar in their diets.
4. iPhone camera turned microscope diagnoses disease
A team of researchers from the University of California-Davis (Davis, CA, USA) has transformed an iPhone into a system that can perform detailed microscopy.
5. Smartphones measure radioactivity
Engineers at Image Insight (East Hartford, CT, USA) have developed a software app that uses the camera in an Android smart phone to measure radioactivity levels, allowing users to ensure their local environments are safe.
6. Mobile app helps track moles
A new free app developed at the University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) allows users to photograph suspicious moles or other skin lesions which they can then share with a dermatologist to obtain a medical diagnosis.
7. Turn your iPhone into an IR camera
Engineer Andy Rawson decided to turn his iPhone into a thermal camera by developing custom-built hardware and software solution that would interface to it.
8. Your image could save a stream
Individuals across the world can monitor watersheds and report their conditions using an iPhone application called Creek Watch that has been developed by IBM Research.
-- Dave Wilson, Senior Editor, Vision Systems Design
Sumber : http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2012/09/researchers-turn-an-iphone-into-an-otoscope.html
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