Measuring core temperature using the proprietary application and thermo-smartphone adapter.

Area of Science:

• Medical Devices
• Biomedical Engineering
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Accurate core body temperature measurement is vital for effective accidental hypothermia management.
• Current methods can be cumbersome or inaccessible in pre-hospital settings.
• Rapid temperature assessment is critical for timely intervention and improved patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel, portable smartphone-based adapter for core body temperature measurement.
• To assess the accuracy and repeatability of the device compared to a reference standard.
• To evaluate the potential for on-site temperature monitoring and integrated emergency notifications.

Main Methods:

• Development of a lightweight Android smartphone adapter for temperature sensing.
• Validation against a Spacelabs Healthcare Elance 93300 Vital Signs Monitor using 260 measurements (10-42°C).
• Repeatability testing with 600 measurements using esophageal and tympanic catheters in a water bath at 10°C, 25°C, and 42°C.

Main Results:

• The smartphone adapter demonstrated high accuracy, with inter-method differences ≤0.5°C for 98.5% (esophageal) and 100% (tympanic) of measurements.
• Concordance correlation coefficients were 0.99 for both catheter types, indicating excellent agreement.
• Measurement repeatability was high, with over 99% of readings showing differences ≤0.5°C across tested temperatures.

Conclusions:

• The developed smartphone adapter is a valid, accurate, and repeatable tool for core body temperature measurement.
• Its portability and integration capabilities make it a promising solution for on-site hypothermia assessment.
• This technology has the potential to enhance emergency response and patient management in hypothermia cases.