SMART TECHNOLOGY IN DIAGNOSING JAUNDICE

[Anchor Lead]

Many Koreans suffered jaundice as hepatitis A cases surged in Korea this year. It's hard to notice the yellowing of the whites of the eyes at first, causing patients to miss treatment. But now a simple application has been developed to measure jaundice by taking a photo of the eye with a smart phone.

[Pkg]

It's hard to tell if this man in his 60s suffering from a liver disease is jaundiced simply by looking at his eye color. But snap a photo of an eye with a smartphone and it's revealed he is jaundiced right away. Detecting jaundice simply using a photo is made possible thanks to this app.

[Soundbite] (PATIENT WITH LIVER DISEASE) : "It was time-consuming to draw blood and have it tested. But now it's become simple with the smartphone app."

Jaundice occurs when liver or gall bladder disease causes bilirubin, a bile pigment, to build up in the blood to turn the skin or the whites of the eyes yellow. Previously, accurate diagnosis was possible only through blood tests done in hospitals. Now a research team from Ajou University developed a smartphone app that can detect jaundice. The app has an accuracy rate of over 95%. Artificial intelligence in the app was taught to measure tiny discolored parts of the white and calculate the average before comparing it with actual jaundice patients' blood levels.

[Soundbite] PROF. SUNWOO MYUNG-HOON(AJOU UNIV.) : "I look slightly jaundiced, but according to the app it's from old age, not from disease. It's hard to tell just by looking. The smartphone is smarter than humans."

The app's biggest draw is that anyone can detect jaundice easily.

[Soundbite] PROF. KIM JIN-HONG(SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, AJOU UNIV.) : "Patients who live far away or who are immobile can easily measure jaundice at home by themselves."

The Jaundice detection app will be available to the public within a year after its accuracy rate is boosted even further.