Pain-Detecting Tool for Dementia Patients Rolls Out in U.K.

An Australian developer is launching a smartphone-based application in Britain that uses facial analysis to detect chronic pain in people with dementia, reports Pharmaphorum . The PainChek app can help care workers and clinicians identify and manage pain in people with conditions like Alzheimer's disease. The tool uses an algorithm that provides a readout in real time and can automatically update medical records in the cloud. Using the smartphone's camera, carers can capture an individual's face, and PainChek uses facial recognition to automatically detect muscle movements indicative of pain. The app can be downloaded from Apple's App Store and Google Play by registered users, and PainChek says it has already made direct sales to dementia care units in the United Kingdom. The app has been licensed by U.K. care providers representing some 50,000 beds, and is already employed in roughly 80 percent of Australia's 180,000 aged care beds. "We are now looking to extend . . . integration agreements into the home care sector where the majority of people with dementia currently live, as well as progressing our international expansion plans," says PainChek CEO Philip Daffas.