High-speed camera will improve arteriosclerosis procedure: PhD

Scientists at the Erasmus Medical Center have developed a new high-speed camera that can detect arteriosclerosis in blood vessels using a much faster shutter rate than before. The tiny catheter-camera takes 2,500 pictures in between contractions of the heart so more detailed imaging is literally done in a heartbeat, Professor-Ingénieur Ton van der Steen told NOS. The new camera is a big improvement to the old method, since up until now, the patient's heartbeat disturbed pictures while shooting photos of arteriosclerosis in blood vessels. The research is in print this week in Tianshi Wang's Ph.D thesis for Erasmus University, Heartbeat Optical Coherence Tomography. "I expect fewer patients to come back. Now you can immediately see what you have done and see what you have to deal with and adapt the strategy from the picture just taken," van der Steen says. The catheter-camera is expected to be in use in hospitals in about two to three years from now, Erasmus Medical Center states.