Japanese researchers have created medical telescopes that are thinner and more accurate than some intravenous needles that can be used to examine blood vessels and nerves.
This was announced on Tuesday, April 25, by the Japanese television channel NHK.
According to scientists, the use of an endoscope with a diameter of 1.25 mm will reduce the burden on patients when examining the knee joints. So far, this requires, with currently used technologies, surgical intervention under anesthesia. While the mirror, developed by the Japanese, can be inserted through a very small hole, for example, through a dropper needle.
“The endoscope is very thin and the image quality is good, so you can see areas you couldn’t see before, such as blood vessels and nerves,” said Masaya Nakamura, a professor at Keio University School of Medicine and one of the researchers. “I would like to use it on other organs” of the human body, not just joints.
To develop the endoscope, scientists used the special properties of the optical fiber, which allow the image to be transmitted due to the refraction of light transmitted by the lenses. Scientists believe that such binoculars can be made from plastic materials, so they will be cheap to manufacture and safe for patients.
The researchers hope to start practical applications of ultrathin endoscopes by 2024.
Source: TASS
