American researchers have developed a mobile app that checks how well your blood clots. Patients taking blood thinners could use the app independently in the future. That saves a lot of hospital visits.
With just one drop of blood, a plastic container and your phone’s camera and vibration function, a new app checks whether your blood is clotting correctly. This can offer a solution for patients who take blood thinners. The clotting of their blood must be checked regularly. Too much clotting can cause a stroke, while too little clotting can lead to excessive bleeding. Now the necessary checks mainly take place in hospitals and expensive clinics.
Manually
‘In the past, doctors had to keep turning tubes of blood by hand until small clots appeared in them. This required a lot of blood, making it impossible to do this yourself at home,” says computer scientist Shyam Gollakota from the University of Washington.
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To use the app, drop a drop of blood into a plastic container. The container contains a chemical that activates the clotting process. In addition, it contains a copper particle. The vibration function of your phone makes the holder vibrate, while your camera records the movements of the copper particle. Once the blood begins to clot, the copper particle slows down until it eventually comes to a complete standstill.
Based on the time in which the blood clots, the app calculates the so-called International Normalized Ratio (INR). This value shows how much longer it takes the blood to clot than the blood of someone without clotting problems.
The scientists show that the accuracy of this method is comparable to that of conventional devices. “We can do exactly what the doctors used to do, but with just one drop of blood,” Gollakota said.
Millions of users
It is a fact that digitization is playing an increasingly important role in our society. But there are still opportunities for healthcare, know Folkert Asselbergs, cardiologist at UMC Utrecht and not associated with this study. ‘We are lagging behind other countries in that regard.’ That is why he is happy that scientific attention is being paid to these types of health apps.
‘This app looks promising, but it’s still really in a proof of conceptphase’, says Asselbergs. This means that the app still has to be extensively tested outside the lab. Gollakota is positive: ‘Practically every mobile phone from the past ten years has a vibration function and a camera; almost everyone can use the app. That makes it simple and accessible to millions of people.’
Virtual Doctor
Asselbergs remains critical: ‘We must constantly ask ourselves: what does it add?’ There are already quite a few self-measuring devices on the market. For example, there is Coagucheka device with which patients undergoing anticoagulant treatment can carry out a coagulation check themselves at home.
The vision of the future that Asselbergs is looking forward to is a mobile health app on your phone that is completely tailored to the person who uses it. That app can then help you with the use of medicines or can give lifestyle advice, but it can also detect diseases at an early stage and keep track of their progress. “Your phone becomes your virtual doctor supporting you and your real doctor, I really believe in that.”