Bowden and Gennifer Smith, a PhD student in electrical engineering at Stanford, detail their new low-cost, portable device that would allow patients to get consistently accurate urine test results at home, easing the workload on primary care physicians.
Other do-it-yourself systems are emerging, but the Stanford engineers think their approach is inexpensive and reliable, in part because they base their system on the same tried and trusted dipstick used in medical offices.
There’s a good reason your doctor asks for a urine sample at your annual checkup. A simple, color-changing paper test, dipped into the specimen, can measure levels of glucose, blood, protein and other chemicals, which in turn can indicate evidence of kidney disease, diabetes, urinary tract infections and even signs of bladder cancer.
The simple test is powerful, but it isn’t perfect: It takes time, costs money and creates backlogs for clinics and primary care physicians. Results are often inconclusive, requiring both patient and doctor to book another appointment. Patients with long-term conditions like chronic urinary tract infections must wait for results to confirm what both patient and doctor already know before getting antibiotics. Tracking patients’ progress with multiple urine tests a day is out of the question.
It’s a black box with a mechanism that separates a urine sample into ten identical amounts and places those into ten holes at the bottom of the box. Each hole, just like on a traditional dipstick test, tests for a unique chemical biomarker. Once the sample is delivered, the user places the phone on top of the box and starts the matching app. The app takes a picture of the test and interprets the colors all on its own.
The standardized illumination from the smartphone’s LED light helps to make sure the test is well calibrated and results are accurate.
Credit : http://www.stanford.edu/