Monitoring kidney disease on a smart phone
Researchers in the United States have developed a hand-held ‘albumin tester’ integrated with a smart phone for diagnosing and monitoring kidney disease.
The lightweight device measures albumin levels in urine. The system, which could be used by kidney disease patients at home, integrates an on-board fluorescence assay with an app, via the phone’s camera, to provide a result in minutes. Currently, tests for high albumin levels are carried out using bench-top urine analysers in the lab, which requires patients to attend a clinic or hospital for multiple visits.
The device uses a digital fluorescent tube reader integrated with an android app that can be attached to the back of a smart phone. An albumin-sensitive dye solution generates fluorescence signals which are collected by the smart phone’s camera via an external plastic lens. The app converts these signals to an albumin concentration value within 1 second, with a detection limit of 5-10 µg ml-1 – three times lower than the clinically accepted range.
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