Wednesday 17 August 2022 02:28 PM A 30-second selfie video shot from an iPhone may be able to predict if you're ... trends now
You've noticed the camera on your phone get exponentially better over the years.
But it might now be good enough to save your life — by spotting whether you're at risk of a stroke.
Researchers have developed an algorithm that assesses the width of the arteries in your neck.
The programme works by scanning a 30-second video of someone's neck, taken from a modern smartphone.
Narrowed arteries in the neck - known medically as carotid artery stenosis - is one of the main causes of strokes.
Researchers in Taiwan took videos of more than 200 elderly patients' necks using a 2014 iPhone 6.
Participants were made to lie down on their backs and put their heads in a box while a mounted mobile phone filmed them.
The algorithm spotted nearly nine in 10 patients who had narrowed arteries and were therefore at risk of a stroke.
Lead study author Dr Hsien-Li Kao, from the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, said the finding was a 'eureka moment'.
Currently symptoms like high blood pressure or high cholesterol need to be spotted before a patient is sent for a scan.
In the experiment study participants lay on their back with their head in a box that limited movement while a smartphone camera was sued to film the arteries in their neck in action
This footage was run through an algorithm that looked for tiny changes to the skin, impossible to discern with the naked eye, that could indicate the blood supply to the brain was under strain, highlighting them pixel by pixel in blue