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Saturation of stool color in HSV color model is a promising objective parameter for screening biliary atresia
Zhen Shen1, Shan Zheng1, Rui Dong1
1Department of Surgery, Children's Hospital, Fudan University.
Purpose:
We aimed to study whether saturation in HSV color model could be a parameter for acholic stool and utilized for designing a mobile application for screening biliary atresia (BA).
Methods:
Saturations of the colors in the three validated stool color cards (Taiwan, Japan, Britain) were read using PHOTOSHOP. Stools from 40 BA patients and 40 in-hospital neonates with pneumonia were photographed and analyzed with color-analyzing mobile applications.
Results:
Saturations of normal colors in the published stool cards were all >50% (67%~99%, median 85%) and were all <50% (7~47%, median 25%) for abnormal colors. With saturation<60% as a cutoff line, acholic stools could be identified with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 85%.
Conclusion:
Saturation of stool color in HSV model is a promising objective parameter for acholic stool and could be utilized in designing mobile APPs for screening BA.
Level Of Evidence:
Study of diagnostic test, level II.
