A new development in the field of imaging could help revolutionize it after a scanner that uses laser light instead of X-rays was invented.
The device was created by scientists at University College London and is very effective at showing blood vessels, making it very useful for diagnosing and treating diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and some types of cancer.
A technique called Photoacoustic Tomography (PAT) uses laser light and the waves it produces in various tissues to piece together a 3D image in real time. The technique first appeared more than 20 years ago, but previous versions took seconds or minutes to record an image.
The UCL team has managed to get this time to less than a second.
They hope that this innovation will materialize into a handheld scanner for routine use by clinics, avoiding harmful X-rays or very expensive equipment such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
"These technical advances make the system suitable for clinical use for the first time, allowing us to see aspects of human biology and disease that we couldn't before," said Professor Paul Beard.
The speed at which the scanner captures images allows the device to view processes such as blood circulation in real time.
"The speed avoids the blurring that comes from movements, obtaining highly detailed images with a quality that no other scanner can produce."
The scanner's biggest goal is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Tumors have a high density of small blood vessels that don't show up well with other imaging techniques.
The UCL team says more work is needed in a larger group of patients to show the potential of this innovation before it becomes a device for routine use./tvklan.al
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