The Benton Courier reports that Southwest Regional Medical Center of Arkansas is the second non-teaching facility in the nation to have a fluorescent bronchoscope.
Xillix Technologies Corp., a Canadian manufacturer that has developed LIFE-Lung Fluorescence Endoscopy System, provides more info on this technology:
Xillix’s unique technology is known as “LIFE” which refers to “Light Induced Fluorescence Endoscopy”.
The principle of operation is based on naturally occurring fluorescence (“autofluorescence”) which is emitted from tissue when exposed to light. No drugs are used to achieve this response. When tissue containing abnormal cells is exposed to light from Xillix’s LIFE system, physicians are able to see differences in the tissue autofluorescence. These differences allow physicians to detect subtle abnormalities that may otherwise be missed. Lesions as small as 1 millimeter and only a few cell layers thick can be detected.
The Xillix LIFE Imaging System captures the differences in the fluorescence emissions of normal versus abnormal tissue and displays the result in colour on the system display monitor, either in real time video or digital still image for interpretation by the physician. Abnormal tissue such as carcinoma in situ (“CIS”) appear as areas of red.
More at Xillix…