Optical ultrasound probes to provide detailed imaging and guide surgical tools

The optical ultrasound probes are being developed by Dr Adrien Desjardins at University College London, who was recently announced as one of the first nine recipients of the EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards.

The awards, designed to encourage research that will improve healthcare diagnosis and treatment, will allow the successful researchers to work with clinicians, companies and charities to help speed up the clinical adoption of their technologies.

The nine researchers, each of whom will receive a share of a £9m fund, are developing technologies ranging from smart wound dressings and new ways to examine sperm, to tools to improve diagnosis and cancer treatment.

The new optical ultrasound probes are designed to be integrated into devices such as needles and catheters, to provide detailed imaging from inside the body and help guide the surgical tools, according to Desjardins.

“Ultrasound imaging can provide exquisite visualization of tissue from within the body to guide minimally invasive medical procedures,” he said. “Currently, though, ultrasound imaging is performed with electronic transducers, which have costs that are often prohibitive for single-use medical devices, and they are too bulky for many procedures.”