Potassium Detection in Blood Serum By Image Processing

Potassium plays a crucial role in various physiological processes, highlighting the importance of accurate detection methods for medical diagnostics. This work presents a novel approach utilizing smartphone for potassium quantification, emphasizing accessibility and affordability. The method relies on reagent assays that produce a turbid solution upon reacting with potassium, with turbidity varying based on the potassium concentration in the test sample. Image processing techniques are employed to quantify this turbidity variation for estimating potassium concentration. Potassium detection is carried out in linear range of 1 to 8 mmol/l with limit of detection (LOD) 0.1 mmol/l. Rigorous experimentation demonstrates the method’s reliability and reproducibility, with coefficients of variation ranging from 0.015% to 0.094%. An Android application is developed to facilitate the software implementation, ensuring portability and flexibility through software solutions. This work presents a promising advancement in potassium detection, offering a practical solution for medical diagnostics with widespread accessibility and accuracy in low resource areas.