Paper-based device helps examine patient samples on mobile phone

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 23

Researchers at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, in collaboration with a team of doctors from the Civil Hospital, Panchkula, a dental college in Imphal and a private hospital in the National Capital Region (NCR), have come up with a unique paper-based contraption that can be used in conjugation with a mobile phone to examine patient samples.

The researchers have explored and validated the clinical utility of Foldscope in the diagnosis of diseases using various patient samples. Their study evaluated the use of Foldscope in clinical diagnosis of oral and urinary tract infections and evaluated its efficacy as a motivational tool for improving oral health among schoolchildren in India.

The study, published in the Journal of ‘Microscopy’, identifies Foldscope as a particularly convenient tool to diagnose urinary tract infection (UTI) and monitor kidney stones. Using this tool, one can easily monitor own-kidney stone status at home with a simple glass-slide, a Foldscope and a mobile phone. “Such monitoring has the potential of avoiding kidney stones reaching a painful state or the need for surgery in recurring cases,” Dr Rao said.

According to information made available by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the ease of operation and low cost of the Foldscope enables it to be employed in public healthcare centres for primary diagnosis of oral health and UTI or as a personal health monitoring device.

For assessment, a patient sample such as urine is smeared on a transparent glass slide and visualised under a Foldscope mounted on a cellphone. Sample images can be enlarged using the zoom function of the mobile, which can be stored in the phone’s memory for later reference or maintaining patient records. Foldscope can be assembled using paper clips and mounted on cellphone using coupler and glue drops.

The researchers qualitatively compared the Foldscope to a clinical microscope by examining five different types of clinical samples. Of the different types of samples, Foldscope was effective in detecting infection in dental plaque samples and urine samples. The use of Foldscope was also evaluated as an educational tool for motivating oral hygiene among 80 schoolchildren and it was found that students in the Foldscope intervention group had better measures of oral hygiene than did students in the non-intervention group.

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