By: Michele Munz
As head of the Washington University optical radiology laboratory — where researchers study how to use light to improve diagnosis and treatment of disease — Samuel Achilefu heard from surgeons frustrated by the difficulty of removing every remnant of a patient’s cancerous tumor.
Before surgery, imaging tests involving big, high-tech machines can create detailed pictures of a person’s cancer, Achilefu said, “but when a patient is in the operating room, it’s like walking in the dark.”
Achilefu wondered, what if he could take imaging technology and make it wearable like night-vision goggles used in the military so surgeons could see the cancer while they are operating?
The technology would be extremely difficult — some even thought impossible — to miniaturize and make functional and wearable for hours. But after dedicating five years to the project, Achilefu created cancer-visualizing glasses that were successfully used in surgeries for first time last year. Click here for full article
Source: St. Louis Post Dispatch