Point-of-Care Portable In-vitro Diagnostics: Smartphones, Imaging, Sensing, Connectivity, and AI

Microfluidic-based (“lab-on-a-chip”) bioassays and sensors enable automated or simply-operated medical diagnostic testing in near real-time at almost any location. These diagnostic devices can be connected to networks, especially using smartphones, where the smartphone camera serves as an optical detector or means of image capture. In addition, the smartphone provides connected sensors, GPS, visual displays, user-friendly interfaces, and limited electrical power. The added communications, control, and computational capabilities foster a synergism that will widen the applications of POC devices in healthcare and facilitate data acquisition for machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance diagnostics accuracy and expand medical knowledge. Here the technological developments for microfluidic devices in combination with consumer devices, such as smartphones, for integration into the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), are reviewed.

Keywords: Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC), Microfluidics, Medical Diagnostics, Point-of-Care (POC), Smartphones.