We have all heard that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but now, scientists have developed a camera which can see through the human body.
The camera has been designed to enable doctors to track the location of medical tools during internal examinations, and it is proving to be more cost effective than using x-rays, or other scans.
It works by detecting individual photons in the body, and Professor Dhaliwal, an academic at the University of Edinburgh, has described the camera as “having immense potential” for a variety of medical purposes, and believes it could be instrumental in the advancement of minimally invasive treatments.
One of the benefits of this camera is that it is highly portable, and can even be used at a patient’s bedside. It is hoped that this will make treatments less stressful, and more routine, for patients undergoing treatment. Early tests have shown that the camera can pinpoint a single light source through 20cm of tissue, and there are hopes that this will be improved, in terms of range of identification, and clarity. This is to ensure maximum precision in all medical procedures.
This may be of particular interest to students reading about endoscopy, in addition to those interested in Bio-Physics. You might like to consider other pertinent areas which could benefit from an instrument such as this, or any implications of the current research.
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