Canadian hospital uses “world’s smallest camera” to see inside stroke patient’s blood vessels

 Sounds great, what is your hospitals response to bringing this in? No response, you don't have a functioning stroke hospital.

Canadian hospital uses “world’s smallest camera” to see inside stroke patient’s blood vessels

Physicians at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) in Ottawa, Canada recently became the first in the world to use a new stroke technology, the MicroAngioscope (Vena Medical), in a patient procedure. Equipped with “the world’s smallest camera”, the device goes inside veins and arteries, allowing physicians to see inside the blood vessels of the patient’s brain.

On 14 November 2023, interventional neuroradiologist Robert Fahed (TOH, Ottawa, Canada) used the MicroAngioscope to treat a patient who suffered from repeated strokes. The device’s advanced and high-resolution imaging enabled Fahed to pinpoint the subtle condition that led to the strokes, allowing for a tailored treatment approach. That is according to a TOH press release.

“For the first time in the world and history of interventional neurology, we used a new technology that allowed us to visualise the inside of the vessels of a patient,” said Fahed, who was the lead physician during the procedure. “This opens the door to a new way of practising this specialty. This also means that—now that we can finally see the inside of the vessels—everything needs to be re-explored and redefined.”

“Think about doctors having the ability to miniaturise themselves and go through our arteries to understand health issues,” added Vena Medical co-founder and chief executive officer Michael Phillips. “Our newest invention, the Vena MicroAngioscope—just slightly thicker than a strand of hair—allows doctors to view diseases within the brain’s vasculature, in full colour and in real time. Vena Medical marks a major leap forward and is committed to providing doctors with advanced tools for the prevention of strokes and various vascular diseases.”