Indian-origin scientist in UK develops medical camera to see through human body

An Indian-origin scientist worked along with a team at UK university to develop a medical camera that can see through the human body.

Kev Dhaliwal who is Professor of Molecular Imaging and Healthcare Technology at the University of Edinburgh believes that with this newly developed camera, doctors will no longer be required to rely on expensive scans and X-rays.

“It has immense potential for diverse applications, such as the one described in this work. The ability to see a device’s location is crucial for many applications in healthcare, as we move forwards with minimally invasive approaches to treating disease,” said Dhaliwal, the Project Lead of Proteus, which is part of a larger research collaboration developing a range of new technologies.

The camera is designed to enable doctors track medical tools such as endoscopes, that mostly used investigate a range of internal conditions. This new device is able to detect sources of light inside the body, such as the illuminated tip of the endoscope’s long flexible tube. 

Until now, it was not possible to track where an endoscope is located inside the body in order to guide it to the right place without using X-rays or other methods. 

Light from the endoscope can pass through the body, but it usually scatters or bounces off tissues and organs rather than travelling straight through. This makes it nearly impossible to get a clear picture of where the endoscope is.

According to a team member, the new camera with advanced technology can detect individual particles of light, called photons. Experts have integrated thousands of single photon detectors onto a silicon chip, similar to that found in a digital camera.