Thermal scanners have the potential to help spot diseases that cause fever or inflammation, potentially including cancers on or near the exterior of the body. While basic near-infrared imaging technology has been in existence for quite a while, it hasn’t been able to make a notable splash in medicine. Now CSIRO, an Australian company, has developed a new device that may open new possibilities for medical thermal imaging.
The HeatWave device is a 3D thermal imager, able to create volumetric maps of heat in front of its lens. In medicine this is important because traditional 2D thermal devices require images to be taken from the exact same angle each time a patient comes for a checkup. The HeatWave can be moved around a patient while a live 3D heat map is produced on a screen. Hopefully the technology will help spot skin and breast cancers, detect fevered patients coming into an ER, or even help enforce epidemic quarantines.
Here’s an example of the HeatWave technology in action:
Product page: HeatWave…
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