Germany Readies a Salt-Grain Sized Endoscopic Camera

Till a while ago, endoscopy made for a cumbersome medical procedure. The endoscopic camera’s usage was subjected to tremendous maintenance labour like cleaning the camera after every single use.

Small Wonder!

Thanks to a team of enterprising researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, Germany, the medical fraternity can forego the hassle. They have developed an endoscopic camera as micro as a grain of salt! This microcamera will enable doctors to perform their surgical procedures with utmost precision. Also, these cameras spare the hassle of cleaning once its used, simply because they’re a one-time use, disposable micro camera.

What’s so different with this one you ask? Well, this micro camera undergoes a completely different manufacturing process. For once, it does not depend on the mode of reaching individual image sensor, but, owing to the new development simultaneously reach all the sensors. The camera is small enough to fit on the tip of the endoscope.

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Despite it being a breakthrough invention, scientists at the above mentioned institute assure that this technology will remain an inexpensive one. The resolution of the camera is less than 1MP; 62,500 pixels to be precise. It’s micro appearance, however, has remotely nothing to do with the clarity of images it delivers. The pictures are clear, sharp and give out the details crucial during surgeries.

The camera, however, is still in its formative stages and will be available in the market only next year.