Take a Selfie and See If You Have DiGeorge Syndrome

In Maryland, National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute researchers used selfies combined with facial recognition software to successfully diagnose a rare genetic disease, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, also called DiGeorge syndrome. Their success rate was an astonishing 96.6 percent accuracy rate using only photographs from people around the world of varying ethnicities. Over 100 photos were used from 11 countries for the study which looked at 126 specific facial features to diagnose the disease. The disease is difficult for doctors to diagnose since it relates to multiple defects like heart problems, hearing loss, cleft palate and other issues that the medical community doesn’t necessarily link to the rare genetic disease. This new way of diagnosing the disease could help patients get the right care much earlier on than they are now.