Australian scientists have developed a miniature microscope that travels inside the human body in order to detect cancer early, and created a new diagnostic discipline, Endomicroscopy.

The endomicroscope, created by Australian company Optiscan, gained approval at a meeting of the world’s leading gastroenterologists at International Endomicroscopy 2008.

At the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the US, the Director of Gastroenterology, Dr Marcia Canto, has established one of four training centres around the world to teach doctors how to use endomicroscopes.

Dr Canto told the conference, “In our trial treatment of Barrett’s Oesophagus (a pre-cancerous condition), we have found the endomicroscope to be highly accurate in detecting the disease, and the other studies show extraordinary consistency with our own.” 

Dr Canto says, “Diagnostically this is almost as good as it gets and this is just the beginning of Endomicroscopy.”

The OptiScan invention is also being hailed as an efficient technology for diagnosing gastrointestinal disease in children where its ability to provide “in vivo” diagnosis can save children two visits to the surgeon – one for a biopsy and then again later for treatment if required.

Dr. Mike Thomson, Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital, UK told delegates, “We have now performed many endomicroscope procedures and we have solved cases where diagnosis has beaten us. For example one youngster had a persistent case of stomach pain and diarrhoea. The endomicroscope identified a lesion which we were able to map and ablate (remove) in a single procedure without the need for a biopsy”.

“The youngster was successfully cured. As a result of this and many other procedures we now believe that endomicroscopy is safe for patients as young as eight months of age.”

“And, endomicroscopy makes economic sense -  it is a significantly less expensive procedure. In the UK we pay about $A170 for a biopsy and our hospital spends upwards of $A1 million a year for gastrointestinal biopsies. The reduction in biopsy costs alone justifies our investment in the equipment at our institution.”