Stanford researchers developed a working prototype of an endoscope as thin as a human hair that they say "would be the ultimate minimally invasive imaging system."
The so-called "micro-endoscope" can produce images at a resolution 4 times higher than similar devices, and it could have important applications in healthcare.
Today’s high-resolution endoscopes are capable of capturing objects about 10 microns in size, but the Stanford micro-endoscope can resolve objects about 2.5 microns in size. A resolution of 0.3 microns is also "easily within reach," according to a press release.
The device uses a single, hair-thin "multimode" fiber to transmit light, but the team had to devise a specialized computer program that "learned" how to unscramble the information.
The research was conducted under the direction of electrical engineering professor Joseph Kahn, who previously set world records for transmission speeds that used special algorithms to unscramble computer data transmitted through fibers similar to those used in the micro-endoscope.
The prototype device suffers from a primary flaw in that it must be rigid in order to work, but it nonetheless represents a significant improvement over existing rigid endoscopes, which are thicker. Flexible endoscopes used in surgeries involved bundles of thousands of individual fibers that each transmit a single pixel of information, according to the press release.
The team plans to continue development, aiming to achieve the pinnacle of micro-endoscopy – a hair-thin endoscope that is also flexible.
"No one knows if a flexible single-fiber endoscope is even possible, but we’re going to try," Kahn said in prepared remarks.