Surgeons Use Camera That Is Bio-Inspired
Orange County, CA - April 18th, 2018 -
Postdoctoral researcher Missael Garcia and Professor Victor Gruev of the University of Illinois developed a multispectral camera that is designed to help surgeons remove cancerous cells. This new camera allows surgeons to remove all cancerous cells without damaging any tissue. It also confirms all cancerous tissue has been removed.
Influenced by the eyes of a morpho butterfly, doctors are able to see both a classic color image as well as an infrared image. This allows fluorescently lit cancerous cells to show, even under bright surgical lighting. Cameras are not sensitive enough to work properly-the ambient lighting needs to be dimmed to view the fluorescence. This new technology has found cancerous lymph nodes that surgeons have mistakenly missed. The greatest obstacles cancer surgeons face is preventing any other cancerous cells from remaining when removing tumors.
"We realized that the problems of today's infrared imagers could be mitigated by using nanostructures similar to those in the morpho butterfly," said Missael Garcia. The team went above and beyond and integrated the camera with surgical goggles. Victor Gruev believes the camera and goggles will cost about $200 compared to the cheapest FDA-approved instrument for existing options, which is about $20,000.
This instrument has a huge advantage due to its compact size. It has been proven to not interfere with any surgical workflow functions. Because of its small size, it could also be combined into an endoscope to look for any cancerous cells during a procedure such as a colonoscopy. Currently, the machines that are used to provide this kind of visualization are costly and very large. This in totality makes it very difficult to integrate smoothly into surgery.
Surgeons at the University of Washington used a prototype of the bio-inspired camera, with a group of eleven patients with breast cancer undergoing surgery to remove their tumors and lymph nodes. They were also injected with dye into the lymph nodes, which is the current method that is used. This device has been deemed successful.
The researchers found the new imaging device added near-infrared light and better-highlighted tissue to be removed, instead of injecting the dye alone."Because the bioinspired imager can reveal fluorescence that is deep in the tissue, it sped up the process of lymph node identification and helped surgeons find lymph nodes that couldn't be seen by eyesight alone," said Gruev.
Using this technique can treat many types of cancer that can affect your inner organs, such as the brain or liver with high accuracy. Researchers are now forming a start-up company to promote their camera, and they have also filed a patent. They are closely working with the FDA to design a clinical trial before its used in hospitals.
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Surgeons Use Camera That Is Bio-Inspired Orange County, CA – April 18th, 2018 – Postdoctoral researcher Missael Garcia and Professor Victor Gruev of the University of Illinois developed a multispectral camera that is designed to help surgeons remove cancerous cells. This new camera allows surgeons to remove all cancerous cells without damaging any tissue. It also […]