When it comes to diagnosing cancer, it’s best to leave the full examination process to the professionals. For example, it’s good to learn how to do a self-check for skin cancer, but you cannot spot skin cancer just by looking at moles. In short, doctors know what they’re doing, as long as they don’t ignore these 14 warning signs of cancer, and should be your first course of action. But if you can’t get to your doctor right away, your selfie-taking skills might actually be able to help save your life.
Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a new app that analyzes the whites of your eyes for onset jaundice, a silent sign of pancreatic cancer you’ve probably been ignoring. The app is called “BiliScreen,” and could prove to be a real game changer for the disease. Especially since people with cancer have a survival rate of just 9 percent after five years, and because there are several types of cancer that are extremely hard to detect.
Jaundice is identifiable by a general yellowing of the eyes, which is the result of a buildup of bilirubin in a person’s system. Bilirubin is a waste product which is produced during the breakdown of hemoglobin and unhealthy systems fail to filter it out.
In trial testing, the app was able to correctly diagnose 90 percent of “cases for concern” in 70 participants. Although the results are promising, you should always see your doctor for a professional diagnosis. The app is currently not available to the public. Until then, if you have an old cell phone that won’t be detecting cancer anytime soon, check out the 12 best ways you can use it.
[Source: The Independent]
