“Star Trek”-Like 3D Handheld Medical Scanner Debuts

Diagnostic technologies for primary care physicians have not kept pace with the advancements of operating rooms where surgeons can see inside the human body in real time using advanced imaging techniques.  Stephen Boppart, from the University of Illinois (Illinois, USA), and colleagues have developed a new imaging tool for primary care physicians: a handheld scanner that would enable them to image all the sites they commonly examine, and more, such as bacterial colonies in the middle ear in 3-D, or monitor the thickness and health of patients' retinas. The device relies on optical coherence tomography (OCT), a visualization technology that is similar to ultrasound imaging, but uses light instead of sound to produce the images. The team is hopeful that falling production costs combined with smaller, more compact designs will enable more physicians to take advantage of the scanners, and become a common point-of-care tool. Eventually, they would like to see the imagers at work in developing countries as well.