StethoCloud Project Diagnoses Pneumonia On the Cheap 55
Hugh Pickens writes "According to the World Health Organization, nearly one in five childhood deaths worldwide is caused by pneumonia, each year killing an estimated 1.4 million children under the age of 5, more than any other disease. Even in developed countries, trained healthcare professionals have trouble accurately diagnosing pneumonia because diagnosis comes after the onset of symptoms, which often must become severe before the condition is recognized as life threatening. Now Singularity Hub reports on StethoCloud, a cloud-based service that turns a Windows smartphone into a digital stethoscope. Using a specially designed microphone called a 'stethomic' that plugs into the smartphone's audio jack, and an app that guides users through the proper method for listening to a patient's breathing, early testing shows promise at accurately detecting the disease. Currently, the group is working with the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne to develop research protocols for field testing and they've sent the stethomics to hospitals in Ghana, Malaysia, and Mozambique. By next year, the team hopes the device will be in use in areas that need it most. The team expects its stethoscope to cost around $15 to $20, significantly cheaper than current digital stethoscopes in the market which tend to cost hundreds of dollars. The team argues that the cost of the phone itself is negligible, as smartphones are quickly becoming common even in the developing countries where childhood pneumonia is most prevalent."
Why cloud? (Score:2)
The project looks extremely interesting and useful, but I don't get why they wish to base it on "the cloud". Does their algorithm really require a centralized server to compute a result? Seems to me that would prohibit the application's use in areas where an internet link is not available.
Re:Why cloud? (Score:5, Insightful)
According to article, yes I admit to having read it, they have a stand-alone java based version that runs on just about anything; the 'cloud' version is constantly collecting historical data that allows the diagnostic algorithms to learn and improve themselves. I'm not sure that last part is actually true but it is a nice thought.
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Cloud based systems are problematic in 3rd world countries. I live in the North of Johannesburg in South Africa, and often battle with smartphone apps that don't work because of connectivity issues. In rural areas the connectivity can be even worse, even though the networks are not nearly as congested there. Mady rural areas in South Africa and I assume the rest of Africa, only have EDGE (2G) data coverage, if at all.
Cloud based systems are problematic in first world countries as well. Particularly from a privacy perspective.
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The "Windows Smartphone" angle is problematic anywhere.
Nobody actually owns one. :-)
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Oh, you can pick them up for free at the dump now. And once WP8 ships, there will be truckloads of WP 7.5-only Lumia's to hand out like chicklets. At least a whole bunch that haven't yet been skipped into a lake.
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This sort of thing was done on other platforms long ago, so a Windows phone is not required.
ThinkLabs developed a modified desktop build of the popular FOSS audio app Audacity (free Mac and Windows binary DL page below). Linux builds should be too much work. The digital stethoscope is much more than $20 though. They first offered one in 2003. They have set up some filters and added a spectragraph viewing mode in Audacity. Other audio/noise/vibration apps should be able to do basically the same thing. T
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Speaking from firsthand experience in Ghana, 3G cellular data coverage is available in most major cities, some villages, and several rural spots that happen to be flat enough that the network provider bothered to put in a better tower for wide coverage. The most up-to-date cities have 4G, and that's where I see the cloud aspect being most useful. It's normal for a city doctor to have a smartphone, but not a terrestrial internet connection to his office.
CES 2011: Microsoft's Kinect and Windows Phone 7 U (Score:1)
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The project looks extremely interesting and useful, but I don't get why they wish to base it on "the cloud". Does their algorithm really require a centralized server to compute a result? Seems to me that would prohibit the application's use in areas where an internet link is not available.
Its all about the liability and malpractice. Dr. VLM misdiagnosed my kid? Cool, lets bankrupt him. "The cloud" misdiagnosed my kid? .... crickets ... Sounds like the designers are in .au and the buyers are in Africa so plus or minus extradition treaties etc they're pretty safe.
Its not that they're evil, its just economics. Lets say 99% is a realistic goal, so 1% of the time you'll be sued for $10M. That means you need to charge everyone $100K just to break even on insurance. Unless you can put all the
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"The cloud" misdiagnosed my kid? .... crickets ... Sounds like the designers are in .au and the buyers are in Africa so plus or minus extradition treaties etc they're pretty safe.
That's not really how it works. The provider making the diagnosis, regardless of the tools used to make that diagnosis, is legally responsible for that diagnosis until such time that the patient's management is transferred to another provider. If treatment is initiated by *any* provider, then that treatment-initiating provider is responsible for both the treatment AND the validity of the diagnosis s/he is treating.
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Doctors frequently consult other doctors. This is so they make less mistakes. Think of the cloud option as a way of consulting with a "BigAssLibraryOfBreathingSounds" that have been filtered by experts in lung disease. Now the doctor still makes the final call (incidentally it's their insurance) but now they get the help of consultants around the world.
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You're not footing the bill
Windows Phone (Score:4, Interesting)
Why develop it for a phone that nobody uses (or wants)?
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Why develop it for a phone that nobody uses (or wants)?
The medical market understands high cost of sales more than it understands high cost of devices.
The team expects its stethoscope to cost around $15 to $20, significantly cheaper than current digital stethoscopes in the market which tend to cost hundreds of dollars.
I recently read MS spends $500 on advertising for each phone sold.
Re:Windows Phone (Score:5, Funny)
I recently read MS spends $500 on advertising for each phone sold.
No, that figure is wrong, it's $250, they sold another phone.
Easy to port to other platforms (Score:2)
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Why develop it for a phone that nobody uses (or wants)?
Because it was a contest sponsored by Microsoft using MS technology?
now, does it work? (Score:2)
one of my kids had pnemonia and one of the best pediatricians in NYC couldn't diagnose it for a few days because the exact symptoms didn't appear for a few days after the fever first started. at first he thought it was a virus
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Sure you can, you just don't want to in most cases.
Might end up with hundreds of superpowered kids, not all of whom will end up going to heroic route.
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at first he thought it was a virus
And of course a viral infection cannot cause pneumonia. [wikipedia.org] He was right not to have diagnosed it, because it wasn't pneumonia then (yet) and your story stinks.
Standard "Oh bother". ....
Viral pneumonia is possible. It however does not respond to antibiotics.
Yet bacterial infections often follow
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The thing is, it most likely was a virus initially. The runny nose, cough, fever, that's the virus.
It might well have turned into a bacterial pneumonia after that. It might also have just been a viral pneumonia.
The important thing is actually how well the child is. If they've got a patch of small pneumonia which might have showed up on x-ray, and they get better by themselves there's no harm done. More harm if they had the (albeit low) radiation from a CXR and then strong antibiotics.
If the kids still feedi
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Well the number of phones to number of kids doesn't have to be 1:1, so you might get away with diagnosing a hundred kids with the same phone. The $20 price comes from being able to diagnose pneumonia without a medical degree i guess.
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Stethoscope (Score:2)
They make it seem like this is some revolutionary new way to identify pneumonia and is better than anything we currentally have. But it just turns a cheap microphone into a crappy stethoscope.
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They make it seem like this is some revolutionary new way to identify pneumonia and is better than anything we currentally have. But it just turns a cheap microphone into a crappy stethoscope.
You forgot to add the Million dollars of Doctors training also connected to said scope and its not just a crappy stethoscope it is a measuring device used day to day by medical professionals.
This app turns a (smart? its running windows) mobile and crappy microphone into Expert recommendations this means you and I could diagnose this condition as well as a medical professional with years of training.
Fantastic (Score:1)
Good Stuff!
Smartphones moving towards a Tricoder?
And rats for tuberculosis (Score:2)
Hopefully The Longevity Advances... (Score:1)
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World population growth is currently 1% a year. If humanity cannot get 1% better at growing food every year, we deserve to die out.
Growth rate is falling, so it will get even easier in the future.
What about hippa that data better be encrypted (Score:2)
What about hippa that data better be encrypted
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"i get it, it sucks but this is the truth of the matter. if someone has a solution, i would love to hear it."
The quest to save and perpetuate every human doesn't have a purpose beyond being a life-affirming gesture. There is no need for a "solution" because there is really no problem.
But the phone? (Score:1)
The team expects the stethoscope to cost..... WHAT...
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/06/stehoclou/ [techcrunch.com]
Nevermind the cost of the phone is many times more.
For the same price a classic stethoscope could be had.
Better to have developed a HTML5 trainer
That can run on any phone, laptop, desktop....
caveat from physician (Score:1)
Not the only smartphone project. (Score:2)
This is only one of many similar add-ons to a smart phone, where a small investment in extra hardware turns a smart phone into some piece of lab or medical equipment. I can recall seeing articles about dermascopes and microscopes as just two examples.
So with just one smart phone and maybe $150 a rural doctor could have a small portable laboratory. It is curious that they've chosen a Windows phone to work on. You'd think Android phones would be much more common in isolated areas.
Here's one for the self diag
$620 stethoscope (Score:2)
$20 for the stethoscope mic. $600 for the smartphone. How is that cheap? it's only cheap when you add more apps & plugin devices to the phone.