The University of Waterloo announced that its researchers have successfully built an imaging technology that can capture blood flow around the body. It is a portable device that can be operated like any mobile camera system such as those found in smartphones for taking self portraits.
"This device acts like many virtual sensors that measure blood flow behaviour on various parts of the body," Rober Amelard, one of the researchers at the university, said in the Daily Mail report. "The device relays measurements from all of these pulse points to a computer for continuous monitoring."
The device works like a video camera but it does more than capture the image of a subject. Through the use of a medical hardware design and digital signal processing, it interacts with light sources in order to look deeper into the skin and proceeds on highlighting the blood flow on the device display. The image captured is a visualization of the blood as it pumps throughout the body. It is also safe to use since the device does not use X-ray radiation or ultrasound, according to the university's official statement.
The researchers believe that the new camera will be helpful to patients especially the elderly because it can help identify blood flow problems or future arterial blockage. The details of this technology has been published in the Nature journal.
