7 Healthcast: Endoscopic imaging

It's called optical imaging. Doctors use fiber optic technology to detect pre cancerous cells.

Bill Temm, endoscopic patient
"Its worked really well for me and my quality of life is right back to where it was."

The one of a kind procedure done at Massachusetts General Hospital uses a small camera to view areas of the esophagus and coronary arteries.

Melissa Suter, Ph.D, Researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital
"You can see more of the tissue and also with the older systems they couldn't image very fast."

Doctor's say its like doing a biopsy inside the body.  

Dr. Gary Tearney, Massachusetts General Hospital
"Instead of taking the tissue out of the body like you would do if you were going to do it under a microscope, you can actually do it with a living patient with our balloon device."

The camera provides a 3D microscopic view. A view that can help doctors check for any potential problems.

Melissa Suter, Ph.D, Researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital
"We can then go back and look at that information and identify areas that are abnormal and go back to treat those specific areas"

For Bill, its good news, nothing abnormal to report.

Bill Temm, endoscopic patient
"This works well and its worked well for me"

I'm Kim Khazei, 7News.

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