A simple and smart telemedicine device for developing regions: a pocket-sized colorimetric reader

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Diagnostics
• Point-of-Care Testing

Background:

• Urine analysis is crucial for diagnosing various health conditions.
• Traditional urinalysis methods can be time-consuming and require laboratory facilities.
• There is a need for accessible, rapid, and reliable point-of-care urinalysis solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel mobile healthcare platform for on-site urinalysis.
• To integrate a pocket-sized colorimetric reader with standard urinalysis paper strips.
• To enable smartphone-based data transmission for remote expert consultation.

Main Methods:

• A portable colorimetric reader with a multi-detection module (LEDs, photodiodes, PMMA optical splitter) was designed.
• Commercially available 10-parameter urinalysis strips were utilized.
• Signal data (RGB) were converted to color maps (H or Y models) for analysis.
• Curve-fitting methods were employed for quantitative analysis of urine samples.

Main Results:

• The mobile healthcare platform demonstrated reliable quantification of urinary glucose and protein.
• The system was successfully applied to analyze over a thousand human urine samples.
• The colorimetric reader proved to be battery-powered, inexpensive, lightweight, and fast.

Conclusions:

• The developed mobile healthcare platform offers a cost-effective and efficient solution for urinalysis.
• The system empowers unskilled users to perform on-site testing and transmit data to remote experts.
• This technology has the potential to improve healthcare accessibility and diagnostics, especially in remote or underserved areas.