Single Chip Stereo Endoscopy from Visionsense

Visionsense out of Orangeburg, New York has developed a single chip stereo endoscope that allows for 3-D visualization within the body. The FDA approved the device back in March of this year.
Here’s how the company explains its 3-D visualization technology:

The human eyes provide the brain with two independent, slightly different images of an object.
These are then processed into a stereo image that relays how close or far away the object is. Today’s Minimally Invasive Surgery (“MIS”) video cameras are monocular based, therefore they provide only 2-Dimension visualization. The lack of depth perception, inherent in the current technology, significantly reduces a surgeon’s ability to determine the size and precise location of anatomical structures and the surgeon’s maneuvers, thus impairing their ability to diagnose and operate efficiently.
The Company’s R&D team has developed a proprietary and patented technology, which provides the MIS surgeon with real-time, high-resolution, natural stereoscopic vision. The design of the proprietary single sensor (a few millimeters in size) is based on multidisciplinary technologies combined with sophisticated image processing algorithms.

Features from the product page:

10mm rigid laparoscope chip in the stick
(Direction of view – 0° and 30° )
Image Processing Unit
Illumination source
System operates with single on/off button
Digital recording/playing, in both mono and stereo
Operates according to surgeon’s customized preferences
Auto stereoscopic display
User friendly
Self diagnostic capabilities
Surgeons have successfully performed a wide range of general surgery laparoscopic procedures with the company’s device, including Colorectal surgery, Nissen Fundoplication, Bariatric surgeries, Adrenalectomy, Hernia repair, Lap Chole, Ob/Gyn interventions, etc.
Visionsense offer a field-tested stereo vision system (VSI).
The company’s product can be integrated into most modern operating rooms.
The system is fully upgradeable and includes preoperative storage of customized image parameter control based on surgeon’s preference, digital stereoscopic and monocular recording, and site-specific customization.

Product page: Visionsense’s Vision System
(hat tip: New York Sun)