High tech health check
A medical imaging system can help doctors immediately assess the health of injured or transplanted tissue.
Normally, it takes doctors up to three days to determine whether tissue is dying, but new technology developed in Canada can now help them decide a lot quicker.
A medical imaging system developed at the National Research Council (NRC) can help doctors immediately assess the health of injured or transplanted tissue by providing a rapid snapshot of its blood and oxygen levels.
The NRC system consists of an infrared light source and a highly sensitive camera that records reflected light. It measures specific wavelengths – most of them invisible with the naked eye – and through a series of complex mathematical calculations, determines whether injured or transplanted tissue has an adequate blood supply and if the blood is carrying enough oxygen.
'Our technology is geared for areas of medicine where doctors do visual assessments – such as treatment of wounds, burns, skin lesions or skin transplants,' said Dr. Michael Sowa, spectroscopy group leader at the NRC Institute for Biodiagnostics in Winnipeg.
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