BilliScreen is the name of the app that can detect pancreatic cancer, it uses a smartphone app and a 3D-printed box, that is developed by the researchers at the University of Washington. Pancreatic cancer is very rare in the U.S. but still, it’s one of the leading cause of cancer in the world, because it’s difficult to diagnose early.
The app BilliScreen uses computer vision algorithms and machine learning algorithms to detect jaundice in a photo of a person’s eyes, specifically, it measures elevated levels of bilirubin in the sclera (the white part of the eye). Jaundice is an early symptom of pancreatic cancer and a number of other diseases are caused by a buildup of bilirubin.
Pancreatic cancer can be caused because of the multiplying of the cells in the pancreas, on a glandular organ behind the stomach. It cannot be indentified by the naked eyes until it’s too late, there are some sings and symptoms the most common of them are, yellow skin, abdominal or back pain, unexplained weight loss, light-colored stools, and loss of appetite.
The level of bilirubin can be measured by a blood test only under a healthcare professional, but not affordable openly.So what BilliScreen do is, it uses a photo that is taken by a smartphone user of his/her face with a smartphone camera with a pair of special glasses and a 3D-printed box that controls the eye’s exposure to light. A study was conducted on 70-patient, and BilliScreen “correctly identified cases of concern 89.7% of the time,” which was compared to the blood test results. The finding later published in Proceeding of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable, and Ubiquitous Technologies.
“The problem with pancreatic cancer is that by the time you’re symptomatic, it’s frequently too late,” said lead author Alex Mariakakis, a doctoral student at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. “The hope is that if people can do this simple test once a month—in the privacy of their own homes—some might catch the disease early enough to undergo treatment that could save their lives.”
BilliScreen is based on research from the University of Washington’s Ubiquitous Computing Lab, they have previously created a smartphone app that detects jaundice in newborns from a photo of their skin.
The researchers keep pushing their limits and always tries to do something new, with their innovative ideas they try to change the future on their own, the team plans to further improve their technology so that the need for the aids can be fulfilled.
Content by: Mr. Tohid Sheikh
