학술논문

Development of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Technologies for Cervical Cancer Prevention Based on a Single-Board Computer
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine IEEE J. Transl. Eng. Health Med. Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, IEEE Journal of. 8:1-10 2020
Subject
Bioengineering
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Computing and Processing
Signal Processing and Analysis
Robotics and Control Systems
General Topics for Engineers
Cervical cancer
Real-time systems
Image analysis
Optical imaging
Optical fiber sensors
Cervical cancer prevention
low-cost medical technology
point-of-care
Raspberry Pi
Language
ISSN
2168-2372
Abstract
Cervical cancer disproportionally affects women in low- and middle-income countries, in part due to the difficulty of implementing existing cervical cancer screening and diagnostic technologies in low-resource settings. Single-board computers offer a low-cost alternative to provide computational support for automated point-of-care technologies. Here we demonstrate two new devices for cervical cancer prevention that use a single-board computer: 1) a low-cost imaging system for real-time detection of cervical precancer and 2) a low-cost reader for real-time interpretation of lateral flow-based molecular tests to detect cervical cancer biomarkers. Using a Raspberry Pi computer to provide real-time image collection and processing, we developed: 1) a low-cost, portable high-resolution microendoscope system (PiHRME); and 2) a low-cost automatic lateral flow test reader (PiReader). The PiHRME acquired high-resolution ( $4.4~\mu \text{m}$ ) images of the cervix at half the cost of existing high-resolution microendoscope systems; image analysis algorithms based on convolutional neural networks were implemented to provide real-time image interpretation. The PiReader acquired and analyzed images of a point-of-care human papillomavirus (HPV) serology test with the same contrast and accuracy as a standard flatbed high-resolution scanner coupled to a laptop computer, for less than one-fifth of the cost. Raspberry Pi single-board computers provide a low-cost means to implement point-of-care tools with automatic image analysis. This work demonstrates the promise of single-board computers to develop and translate low-cost, point-of-care technologies for use in low-resource settings.