A new handheld device currently in development is expected to revolutionize cancer treatment. This came after engineers at the University of Washington were announced to be working on an advanced miniature microscope that could allow surgeons to spot cancerous cells while in the doctor's office or while a patient is undergoing surgery.
The microscope is roughly the size of a pen and is capable of seeing through human tissues. In collaboration with Stanford University's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Barrow Neurological Institute, the researchers combined several advanced technologies that can capture high-quality images at faster speeds. They created the so-called "dual-axis confocal microscopy," which can penetrate opaque tissue and capture up to half a millimeter beneath the tissue surface, according to Phy.org.
"Trying to see beneath the surface of tissue is like trying to drive in a thick fog with your high beams on - you really can't see much in front of you," senior researcher Jonathan Liu said in an official statement. "But there are tricks we can play to see more deeply into the fog, like a fog light that illuminates from a different angle and reduces the glare."
The pen-sized microscope can also help surgeons determine which materials or parts to be left behind, as the technology can distinguish healthy from malignant matter. The details of the miniature microscope have been published in the Biomedical Optics Express.
