THURSDAY, May 23, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Feel like barnstorming through a tumor?
Purdue University scientists have created a new imaging technology that uses lasers, holograms and special detectors to allow "visual fly-throughs" of a living tumor.
The technology may lead to a new kind of medical imaging based on light instead of tissue-damaging X-rays, the Purdue researchers say.
They used the technique, called optical coherence imaging, to take a video of the inside of a cancerous rat tumor. The tumor had been removed from the rat but was cultured and kept alive in the lab.
The work was being presented today at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics in Long Beach, Calif.
The new imaging method could have numerous uses, including diagnostic imaging for medicine and industry, the Purdue team says. It might allow scientists to study how live tumors behave in real time and even watch how the tumors react to experimental drugs.
More information
New developments in diagnostic imaging are advancing rapidly. One of the leaders in this combination of science and photography is David Nolte, professor of physics at Purdue University. This article gives understandable insight into his research.
