Sondric: Image processing algorithm for the automatic calculation of the length and type of a nasogastric tube for medication or feeding

The medical community has a lot of applications requiring image processing, oriented to diagnosis of illness, disease or patient monitoring. Also, the electronic medical record is being introduced progressively in all Spanish medical centres and hospitals, where all patient information is recorded at different levels. This research focuses on one of the clinical processes that are still performed manually and requires its introduction into the already computerized Health Record. This is the measurement and selection of the nasogastric tube. It is a completely manual task that could become more comfortable and automated activity for health professionals, patients and medical or nursing students. Thus, it has been developed an image-processing algorithm based on the OpenCV computer vision library for the automated calculation of the length and type of the nasogastric tube that is most suitable for each patient. Furthermore, the algorithm can be implemented in a versatile and commonly used among professionals mobile device, such as the iPad.