Inside view

SCIENTISTS from Sheffield University and BT Laboratories have jointly developed a highly accurate positioning system for medical endoscopes, which are used during abdominal surgery and other internal procedures.

Medical endoscopes consist of a thin flexible cable through which the surgeon can see inside the patient's body. One problem in their use has been in keeping track of exactly where the visual probe is within the patient. Until now, this has been done by monitoring the position with X-rays.

The new positioning system uses sensors that are linked to a computer. It allows the path and position of the endoscope to be plotted and displayed in three dimensions.