Development of portable lymphatic flow assessment system for lymphatic filariasis

The conventional gamma camera used for the assessment of lymphatic system, using the lymphoscintigraphy technique, is institution based and costly. Therefore, it is not easily accessible to people from remote rural areas. Hence, there is a need for economical and portable equipment to field survey disease-prone areas. Towards this objective, with the advent of developments in radioactivity detection techniques, knowledge-based instrumentation, computer technology, a versatile, cost-effective, portable microcontroller based scintillation detector equipment with a personal computer (PC) interface for the assessment of the lymphatic system has been designed and developed using a lymphoscintigraphy technique. Though the technique is conventional, the detection of radioactivity is unique, employing micro scintillation detectors in contrast to conventional gamma camera. In the latter case, a large diameter scintillation detector is allowed to scan the area of interest for a predetermined time to produce the trajectory of lymph flow as an analog image, whereas, the present instrument records numeric values of radioactivities at different locations and this digital data is automatically archived; this enables a physician friendly diagnosis. The prototype instrument was employed for testing patients and volunteers, and the performance of the instrument was inter-compared with simultaneous qualitative measurements made with a conventional gamma camera; it is found that the instrument is able to reproduce results. The indigenously developed cost-effective portable lymph flow assessment system is applicable for field survey and could replace the conventional gamma camera.