Authors:
Luís Rosado
1
;
João Oliveira
1
;
Maria João M. Vasconcelos
1
;
José M. Correia da Costa
2
;
Dirk Elias
1
and
Jaime S. Cardoso
3
Affiliations:
1
Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, Portugal
;
2
Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Portugal
;
3
INESCTEC and University of Porto, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Microscopy, Mobile Devices, Motorized Microscope Stage, Developing Countries, Mobile Health.
Abstract:
Microscopic examination is currently the gold standard test for diagnosis of several neglected tropical diseases.
However, reliable identification of parasitic infections requires in-depth train and access to proper equipment
for subsequent microscopic analysis. These requirements are closely related with the increasing interest in
the development of computer-aided diagnosis systems, and Mobile Health is starting to play an important role
when it comes to health in Africa, allowing for distributed solutions that provide access to complex diagnosis
even in rural areas. In this paper, we present a 3D-printed microscope that can easily be attached to a wide
range of mobile devices models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first proposed smartphone-based
alternative to conventional microscopy that allows autonomous acquisition of a pre-defined number of images
at 1000x magnification with suitable resolution, by using a motorized automated stage fully powered and
controlled by a s
martphone, without the need of manual focus of the smear slide. Reference smears slides
with different parasites were used to test the device. The acquired images showed that was possible to visually
detect those agents, which clearly illustrate the potential that this device can have, specially in developing
countries with limited access to healthcare services.
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