Proteus team develops camera that detects light inside the body

Led by Dr Mike Tanner, the EPSRC-funded Proteus team has developed a device capable of detecting sources of light that might include the illuminated tip of an endoscope’s long flexible tube. Until now, it has not been possible to track where an endoscope is located in the body in order to guide it to the right place without using X-rays or other costly methods.

Light usually scatters off body tissue rather than travelling straight through it, which is helpful for unveiling information about internal structures. Consequently, light scattering makes conventional through-tissue imaging practically impossible, as the scattering results in a blurred image and loss of information.

Taking advantage of single photon detection is said to solve this problem by giving the camera a high sensitivity towards observing the small number of photons passing through tissue and recording the time they take to arrive onto the sensor.