A new collaborative project, 'BetterView', is working on a special surgical microscope to detect cholesteatomas, an aggressive form of chronic otitis media that triggers inflammation of the middle ear, and bacterial biofilms and remove them safely.Specifically, the special surgical microscope uses short-wave infrared light to illuminate blood, bacterial biofilms, cartilage, and soft tissue;show them spatially;and make them distinguishable from each other.[banner-DFP_1]The so-called SWIR microscope system is being developed under the collaborative project of a research network that includes the University of Bielefeld (Germany) and is coordinated by Munich Surgical Imaging with the aim of combating bacterial contamination.Minimally invasive surgery works with the smallest skin incisions, so little tissue is injured during operations.Light microscopes help surgeons examine the area to be operated on, illuminate the surgical field, and transfer a high-resolution image to a screen.Until now, however, surgical microscopy has worked almost exclusively with light in the visible spectral range.Currently available microscopes reach their limits when a surface is covered by bleeding or contaminated by bacteria.To give surgeons a clear view in such situations, the 'BetterView' project is developing the new SWIR surgical microscope.[banner-DFP_4]The team is building and using high-resolution microscopes while also developing software for image processing.Microscopes with sensors such as the SWIR surgical microscope must first automatically analyze and process the recorded image signal.In order for the surgical microscope to display shortwave infrared signals, the team is developing its own software that filters light outside the shortwave infrared spectrum and calculates a three-dimensional view of the image.The software has to display the video image in real time so that the surgeons in the operating room can work accurately and see without delay what their intervention is doing in the surgical field.To test the SWIR surgical microscope in practice, the project will initially use it to treat cholesteatoma, a chronic inflammation of the middle ear that produces pus.In later stages, the inflammation can also lead to facial paralysis, meningitis, and intracranial abscesses.However, the extent to which bacterial colonization has spread is often not visible under standard microscopes due to, for example, bleeding that obscures the biofilm.In addition to microscopy, specialists also use computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose cholesteatoma.However, this cannot distinguish possible middle ear fluid from a cholesteatoma.MRI is also used to prepare for surgery.Although it provides higher resolution than CT, the disadvantage is that it cannot show the details of the ossicles with sufficient precision.The project team expects a number of advantages from the new SWIR microscope: Its ability to see through blood and distinguish bacteria-infested tissue, bone, nerve and soft tissue is particularly important.Because we all need health... ConSalud.esMRI defines and detects malformations in newborns more accuratelyMRI helps unravel the mysteries of sleep© Copyright 2018. Saludigital.es.All rights reserved.C/ Batalla de Belchite 5, 4th floor, 28045, Madrid, Spain.