Skin Reflectance Based Diagnosis and Monitoring of Thyroid Diseases Bobby J. Sofia1,*, Barathi E Ralan2, Srinithi V2, Salome G2, Jayasurya A2 1Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Jerusalem College of Engineering, Chennai, India 2Students, Jerusalem College of Engineering, Chennai, India *Corresponding Author: J. Sofia bobby Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Jerusalem college of Engineering, Chennai, India, Email: send2sofia@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 19 August, 2019. Abstract About 42 million people suffer from thyroid diseases in India. The thyroid gland is a vital hormone gland which plays a major role in the metabolism, growth and development of the human body. It helps to regulate many body functions by constantly releasing a steady amount of thyroid hormones into the blood stream. If too much hormones is produced, it is called hyperthyroidism, if less amount is produced, it is called hypothyroidism. If these diseases are left untreated, the symptoms become severe therefore it is crucial to diagnose it at earliest. In this paper, a non invasive method is proposed to diagnose thyroid diseases through skin reflectance as well as to monitor the physiological parameters. Laser diode is used to measure the skin reflectance, as thyroid hormone causes changes in the skin. The light is emitted on to skin surface and the reflected light is measured by the infrared detectors. Based on the values from the detectors, it is classified as hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism or euthyroidism. It has the advantage of being non-invasive compared to the invasive blood test, it can also be used to monitor the patient continuously in duration of treatment for every six weeks using Zigbee module. The proposed system is compact, cost effective, and easy to use at home environment Top Keywords Hyperthyroidism, Hypothyroidism, Zigbee, Skin Reflectance. Top |