Cancer Cells Detected Using $400 Digital Camera 90
fergus07 writes "Researchers have detected oral cancer cells using a fiber-optic cable and an off-the-shelf Olympus E-330 camera worth $400. The work by Rice University biomedical engineers and researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center could improve access to diagnostic imaging tools in many parts of the world where these expensive resources are scarce. In the tests, a common fluorescent dye was used to make cell nuclei glow brightly and images were taken using the tip of the fiber-optic bundle attached to the camera. The distorted nuclei, which indicate cancerous and pre-cancerous cells, could then be distinguished on the camera's LCD monitor."
Re:stats (Score:3, Informative)
The E-330 is an outdated four-thirds design. The four-thirds sensor is somewhat smaller than Canons APS-C-sized sensors and even more so than the regular APS-C-sized sensors used by Nikon, Sony, Pentax and so on.
Smaller sensor should in general mean lower price.
And it's as small as DSLR-sensors go.
Of course you could most likely do it with any DSLR camera. But the example was most likely made to say "any cheap DSLR camera", not especially the E-330 (though it do have live view, something most of them do have today to, which let it view the sensor input on the display rather than in the optical viewfinder. Nowadays most of them can be tethered / view data by HDMI to.)
Re:stats (Score:2, Informative)
Correction: Of course the SENSOR input is never shown in an optical viewfinder, the mirror reflects the image/light up to the optical viewfinder.
But yeah, with live view the mirror stays up, the sensor fetches the light and it shows up on the display instead.
(mirror-less cameras use electronic view finders instead.)
Re:FDA approval (Score:3, Informative)
This exact method is already used [vizilite.com] by multiple [leddental.com] companies [trimira.net], and probably does cost about $10k. There is only UV light involved, so no radiology.
The point of this device, is that the same technique can be done with a few hundred dollars of equipment in developing nations.
Re:Congress... (Score:3, Informative)