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New smartphone app can detect newborn jaundice in minutes

bcam

“Plus, it gets the kid used to watching TV at an early age …”

UW News describes a UW CSE cellphone app, Bilicam, developed by Shwetak Patel’s students Lilian de Greef and Mayank Goel:

“Skin that turns yellow can be a sure sign that a newborn is jaundiced and isn’t adequately eliminating the chemical bilirubin. But that discoloration is sometimes hard to see, and severe jaundice left untreated can harm a baby.

“University of Washington engineers and physicians have developed a smartphone application that checks for jaundice in newborns and can deliver results to parents and pediatricians within minutes. It could serve as a screening tool to determine whether a baby needs a blood test – the gold standard for detecting high levels of bilirubin.”

Read more here.  Learn about the project here.