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London — BBC News reports on Experts developing a flexible surgical robot, known as the i-Snake, which they say could revolutionize keyhole surgery. It could enable surgeons to do complex procedures previously possible only through more invasive techniques.

A team at Imperial College London has been granted £2.1 million for the work.

The i-Snake, a long tube housing special motors, sensors and imaging tools, has the potential to allow complex heart and bowel operations to be carried out without making an incision.

According to the research team, the i-Snake could also be used to detect problems in the gut and bowel by acting as the surgeon’s hands and eyes in hard to reach places inside the body. The Imperial College team, which includes health minister and surgeon Lord Ara Darzi, will test the device in the laboratory first, before using it on patients.

Lord Darzi said i-Snake could be in use within five years, resulting in cheaper operations and faster recovery times for patients. The robot’s diameter will vary between that of a 5p and a 10p piece and it will contain fibre-optic cables to relay information to the surgeon.

“The unrivalled imaging and sensing capabilities coupled with the accessibility and sensitivity of i-Snake will enable more complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures than are currently possible, BBC quoted Lord Darzi, as saying. More at BBC News.

WASHINGTON –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 02, ‘07 — Carl Zeiss SMT today introduced the new CENTRA 100 transmission electron microscope (TEM) at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology in Washington D.C.

The CENTRA 100 is a TEM with up to 100 kV accelerating voltage. Specially designed as a sophisticated “imaging system”, the highly compact and robust instrument offers maximum resolution down to 0.2 nm. The ease-of-use and fast specimen exchange capability make this microscope particularly well-suited for biomedical or clinical laboratory environments.

A key technical feature of the system is the choice between two different imaging modes: high resolution and high contrast. This is particularly important for investigating low-contrast biological specimens. The specially developed mini-lens design leads to a very compact size where the electron-optical lens elements exhibit only minimum aberration.

The use of four lens elements in the projection system enables rotation-free imaging while the magnification is being changed. Furthermore, additional deflection systems support the image-fine-shift that enables the generation of panorama images.

CHICAGO, IL –BUSINESS WIRE– Nov 25, ‘07 — Today, at the 93^rd annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, Royal Philips Electronics unveiled its latest innovative healthcare products and technologies including the 256-slice Brilliance iCT scanner, allows radiologists to produce high-quality images with exceptional acquisition speed, including complete coverage of the heart and brain.

It is so powerful it can capture an image of the entire heart in just two beats, while incorporating Philips technology that has reduced radiation doses by up to 80 percent.

Brilliance iCT and a new 64-channel system both feature Philips Essence technology, consisting of new X-ray tubes, detectors and reconstruction design elements. This technology can provide detailed and clear 3D images of an entire organ, including the heart and brain, and can also show changes over time.

All images also can be accessed on any computer in a hospital or by colleagues and researchers remotely, to make it easier for the whole team to share information. To date, more than 30 CT systems with Essence technology have been shipped.

The scanners deliver key clinical insights for a wide range of applications in the radiology and cardiology settings, while the enhanced visualizations will be valuable for doctors diagnosing and treating problems within the heart.

The Brilliance iCT scanner is also designed to reduce patients’ exposure to X-rays. The scan is much quicker, as the machine’s X-ray emitting gantry – the giant ring-shaped part that surrounds the patient – can rotate four times in a single second, which is 22 percent faster than current systems. More at Philips Medical Systems.

SEOUL, South Korea –BUSINESS WIRE– Nov 22, ‘07 — Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest provider of thin-film-transistor, liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, announced today that it has completed development of a flat panel X-ray detector (FPXD) for radiology machines, in collaboration with Vatech Ltd, a Korean medical machinery manufacturing company.

By using digital imaging with thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, the diagnostic process is enhanced in many ways. In addition to delivering a much more precise image, Samsung’s new FPXD imaging sensor can save medical labs considerable time and money because no film or development process is needed.

An X-ray detector is an elaborate imaging sensor that converts invisible X-ray images into digital signals, which are then instantly transformed into pictures. Today, the medical profession still relies primarily on costly, plastic-based analog film for X-ray photography applications, which can take an excessively long period of time to develop in many medical situations.

The new FPXD measures 45 centimeters (cm) wide x 46cm high (or 61cm diagonally) and boasts a 3072 x 3072 (9.4 megapixels) resolution providing ultra-high definition images.

The new Samsung FXPD technology has virtually an endless range of applications beyond conventional X-ray systems. For example, it can be adopted for more advanced diagnostics such as CAT scans, for building inspections (scanning rebar structures, etc.) and for airport security scanners.

To create its FPXD, Samsung attached photodiodes to a TFT substrate that was produced using its proprietary amorphous silicon technology. The X-rays are detected photon by photon and then converted into visible light, which in turn is converted to electrical signals that can be displayed as diagnostic images on a flat panel screen.

In addition, Samsung has created an image enhancement function to eliminate most digital image noise interference to provide the highest radiographic sensitivity in the industry.

Samsung’s expects that its new, FPXD one-stop, total solution will secure the leadership position in the growing market for medical equipment detectors.The device will be available worldwide beginning first quarter, 2008.