Device and method for blood analysis by image processing

Abstract

The present application describes a new device and method of use thereof, which allows identifying certain antigens and antibodies present in the blood. The device of the present invention is a closed device consisting of two parts, wherein the upper part ( 1 ) comprises a chamber ( 3 ) surrounded by LEDs ( 4 ) illuminating the analysis plate ( 8 ), which is supported by the rotating platform ( 6 ). In turn, the rotating platform is connected to a motor ( 7 ) that will promote the rotation thereof for mixing reagents with blood. After a period of time, the camera ( 3 ) will capture and send the resulting image to a computer program that will analyze the sample, using image processing techniques.

1 . Portable device for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples comprising:
 an upper part closed with a lid, comprising a camera which is centered, surrounded by LEDs and connected to a laptop computer or other mobile device which analyzes the captured images by image processing techniques;   a lower part, which in turn comprises a rotating platform connected to a motor where the analysis plate is fixed;   a power supply.   
     
     
         2 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the connection to the laptop computer or other mobile device is carried out via USB, Wireless or Bluetooth. 
     
     
         3 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the other mobile device comprises a mobile phone (smartphone) or a tablet. 
     
     
         4 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the camera focuses directly on the rotating platform. 
     
     
         5 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the upper part and the lower part of the device are connected by a hinge on one side and a lock on the opposite side. 
     
     
         6 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the camera focuses directly on the analysis plate. 
     
     
         7 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the analysis plate is sealed and transparent, is a whole piece and comprises separate circular containers, which are made of a sealing and impermeable material and having holes. 
     
     
         8 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the analysis plate is sealed and transparent and has a removable lid, which is fitted on the base having the containers by a thread mechanism that joins and fixes the two parts (lid and base with containers) and seals the liquid outlet. 
     
     
         9 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the analysis plate used has 6 containers. 
     
     
         10 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the analysis plate is also a spinning one having circular and deep containers. 
     
     
         11 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the number of LEDs ranges between 4 and 6. 
     
     
         12 . Device according to  claim 1 , wherein the power supply is a battery. 
     
     
         13 . Method for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples, using the device according to  claim 1 , comprising the following steps:
 a) placing each of the reagents in the respective containers of the analysis plate, and then the patient's blood to be analyzed, both in their respective proportions;   b) Then, placing the analysis plate in the device, fixing it to the rotating platform;   c) closing the device by joining the upper part of the device with the lower part and start the device.   d) activating the camera, LEDs and motor, according to the following steps:
 i. moving rotationally the platform, via the motor for a time between 60 and 130 seconds, during which the reaction takes place; 
 ii. stopping the motor and turning on the LEDs; 
 iii. after 2 minutes, capturing the image with the camera; 
   e) turning off the LEDs;   f) sending the camera's image to the mobile device, which in turn stores this image;   g) treating the image by image processing techniques;   h) classifying the occurrence or non-occurrence of agglutination via the classification algorithm according to the standard deviation value obtained for each of the test containers.   
     
     
         14 . Method for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples according to  claim 3 , wherein the blood to reagent ratio consists of a drop of whole blood having one-forth of the reagent drop size. 
     
     
         15 . Method for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples according to  claim 13 , wherein the image processing techniques comprise the following steps:
 a) extracting the green color planes of the captured image by transforming the original 32-bit image into an 8-bit image, so it can be used;   b) separating the blood and reagent mixtures into two regions, designated particle region and background region, by assigning the value 1 (one) to all pixels belonging to a range of established values and assigning the value 0 (zero) to all other pixels in the image that does not belong to such established range;   c) calculating the threshold value for each pixel based on statistics of the adjacent pixel, using a 32-width and 32-height default matrix (kernal), with a deviation factor which by default is 0.20;   d) in the image, assigning the pixel value 1 (one) to existing holes in the particles corresponding to the blood and reagent mixtures;   then, removing the particles with the value of 1 (one) pixel to remove background noise from the image and ensure that at the end only remain particles related to test containers;   f) removing the particles which are in the borders of the image, filling in the position with the same value of the adjacent pixel, in order to ensure that only remain for analyzing particles related to test containers;   g) calculating the metrics on the CenterofMassX and CenterofMassY image, which together provide the coordinates of the center of mass of each particle in the image;   h) extracting the light planes from the original image and transform the image into an 8-bit image, which can now be used by other functions;   i) referencing the object in the image that is an identifying mark of the order in which the test was performed, keeping a profile of such object and searching for such object in each image analyzed by the program, giving the coordinates and calculating the distances to other objects;   j) identifying in each image six containers and presenting the coordinates of each one in order to calculate the aforementioned distances;   k) quantifying a given image region defined by the programmer, using each of the container's coordinates given in the previous function to quantify a set of metrics as average of pixels, minimum value, maximum value, standard deviation and analyzed area, because the standard deviation value determines whether or not agglutination has occurred in each test container.   
     
     
         16 . Method for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples according to  claim 12 , wherein if standard deviation is higher than 16, the classification algorithm classifies as agglutinated. 
     
     
         17 . Method for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples according to  claim 12 , wherein if standard deviation is less than 16, the classification algorithm classifies as not agglutinated. 
     
     
         18 . Method for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples according to  claim 12 , wherein results are sent by SMS or email. 
     
     
         19 . Method for detecting immunological agglutination of blood samples according to  claim 13 , wherein the blood type is detected by determining ABO and Rh; tick fever, Syphilis; Mononucleosis; hospital infections; Streptococci bacteria; Meningitis and Pneumonia.