Development of portable lymphatic flow assessment system for lymphatic filariasis

Abstract 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 produc...