WASHINGTON: Does the sight of a needle raise your anxiety level? Don't worry, scientists have now developed a new device which they say can reveal your vital blood information in real-time, simply by shining a light through the skin.
Devised by a team at the Israel Institute of Technology, this optical instrument, no bigger than a breadbox, is able to provide high-resolution images of blood coursing through our veins without the need for harsh fluorescent dyes.
"We have invented a new optical microscope that can see individual blood cells as they flow inside our body," study researcher Lior Golan was quoted as saying by ScienceDaily. The new microscope can eliminate the wait-time for blood test results and help spotlight warning signs, like high white blood cell count, before a patient develops severe medical problems, Golan said.
The device's portability could also enable doctors in rural areas without easy access to medical labs to screen large populations for blood disorders, he noted.
Using their new device, the researchers imaged the blood flowing through a vessel in the lower lip of a volunteer. They successfully measured the diameter of the red and white blood cells and also calculated the per cent volume of the different cell types - a key measurement for many medical diagnoses.
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