A killer app to detect deadly diseases

In the dermatology unit at Madrid's Ramón y Cajal Hospital, they have a new expert in diagnosis. But it doesn't need a white coat ? it's an iPad. Installed on the Apple device is DermoMap, an app designed by three dermatologists at the hospital to help doctors and patients distinguish between harmless freckles and dermatitis, or between a mere spot and possible cancer. The program, priced at 5.99 euros, is the most popular download in the Medicine in Spain category, and is beginning to climb the charts in the United States, Brazil, France and Canada.

The application is highly intuitive, and contains high-resolution photos of the 100 most-common skin diseases ? those that account for 95 percent of all diagnoses. Each is exhaustively described, but the text goes easy on technical terms, making it easy for anyone to understand. The app not only informs, but also helps to diagnose: by asking doctor or patient about the symptoms, it filters through dozens of possible skin complaints, reducing them to two or three. The percentage of bull's-eyes is very high, according to the designers.

"We began with GPs in mind, and other non-specialized health professionals. Then we realized that it might also be useful for patients," says Sergio Vañó Galván, 29, one of the dermatologists behind the project. The studio Wake App helped them design the software, at a cost of six months and 50,000 euros.

"We might send a skin photo to another part of the world and get an answer in minutes. This is the way to go," says Pedro Jaén, dermatology chief at Ramón y Cajal. The objective is multiple; general practitioners can diagnose a disease earlier, so healthy persons need not be sent to the dermatologist; pharmacists can better advise their customers; medical students can use the software as an aid; while patients can use it as a source of information. "It is in no way a substitute for diagnosis, but rather a complement," says Vañó. Initiatives such as this one are part of a trend: health-care applications in iPhones and iPads. In the App Store alone there are more than 2,000 health applications, ranging from heart-rate meters to programs that deal with X-rays. "The average price of this sort of software is about 30 euros. However, our objective is not to make money, but rather cover our costs by making a rigorously scientific product more widely available," says Óscar Hormigos, of the Wake App studio.

Other software developers, such as the Catalan studio Acquamedia, have designed calorie calculators and diet plans, while Jordi Serrano, founder of the start-up Universal Doctor, is the author of a real-time translator by which doctors and patients of different languages can communicate.

The leading Spanish telecommunications operator, Telefónica, recently set up a number of new business lines, including one called eHealth. "We see many opportunities in telemedicine, in handling chronic patients at a distance. In Spain the expense of providing care for these patients amounts to 80 percent of the whole cost of the system," says Álvaro Fernández de Araoz, Telefónica's eHealth director.

In general, an aging population causes health costs to shoot up. In the US they accounted for 18 percent of GDP in 2009, three times more than in 1960. Doctors like Sergio are convinced. "This is the future, and we have to adapt."