Senator Kim Carr, Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, announced in San Diego today that an Australian-invented miniature microscope that travels through the human body, and is being rolled out across the globe, would be installed in three Australian hospitals.
“This is innovation at its best and I am proud to be announcing such an Australian success story while I'm here in San Diego with this strong Australian delegation at BIO 2008,” Senator Carr said.
"This new Optiscan microscope can be used to detect cancers and gastrointestinal disease at a very early stage. Three Melbourne hospitals, the Western and Box Hill Hospitals and the Monash Medical Centre will be added to the 30 hospital rollout worldwide."
Senator Carr said these global medical centres included the prestigious John Hopkins Hospital in the US which will use the technology for the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, gastritis and gastric cancer, coeliac’s disease, colon cancer, colorectal adenoma, Crohn’s disease and Barrett’s oesophagus, and other oesophageal diseases.
"This is a great example of how Australian innovation can better people's lives through the early detection of diseases," Senator Carr said.
Invented by Melbourne company Optiscan, the miniature microscope offers doctors magnifications of 1000 times compared to 30-40 times in traditional endoscopy. This will allow clinicians to detect gastrointestinal tract cancers and diseases rapidly and precisely without the need for potentially error-prone and invasive biopsies.
"This is also a breakthrough in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal disease in children, because it can provide diagnosis and treatment in the one visit in some cases – rather than the child having to endure separate surgical procedures for a biopsy and treatment," Senator Carr said.
"Gastroenterologists will be able to detect ulcerative lesions, cancerous cells, or even spot the spiral cells of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori that cause stomach ulcers."
Optiscan CEO, Ms Vicki Tutungi, said one of the most exciting applications of the new endomicroscope was in diagnosing Barrett's oesophagus and its potential sequel, oesophageal cancer.
It allowed more accurate and less invasive monitoring of patients with precursor symptoms to a particularly aggressive form of oesophageal cancer.
Media contact: Catriona Jackson, Minister's Office, 0417 142 238
Susan Fitzpatrick, Dateline Media USA, 650 279 7771