The Burrill Report

An innovative smartphone accessory created at Stanford could potentially save thousands of people in developing nations from preventable deaths due to oral cancers.

Inspired by a visit to a rural health clinic, Stanford assistant bioengineering professor Manu Prakash developed the oral cavity scanner, called OScan, for use by rural health workers around the world, allowing them to easily conduct screening for oral lesions.

The inexpensive device, consisting of a mouth positioner, a circuit board, and two rows of fluorescent-light-emitting diodes, mounts on a conventional camera phone and allows for data to be instantly transmitted to dentists and oral surgeons for association of any lesions to diseases of the oral cavity, including oral cancer.

Rising tobacco consumption in the developing world has resulted in a growing number of people with oral cancer. Developing countries account for 70 percent of the world’s tobacco consumption and is sharply rising, leading to a large number of deadly diseases, including oral cancer. Although oral cancer has a high survival rate when caught early, in countries such as India, where OScan has been tested, many patients don't visit clinics until inoperable, malignant lesions make it too late to treat the cancer.

While OScan is still in early-stage testing, it has already won accolades from the Vodaphone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project and the mHealth Alliance. Together the organizations have awarded Prakash and his team with $250,000 to advance development of the device.

Next, with support from the mHealth Alliance, Prakash is looking to develop partnerships with wireless service providers and health insurance providers to find ways to offer checkups and tobacco-use education in cash-strapped countries.




April 27, 2012
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-tackling_oral_cancer_with_a_smartphone.html