10 Finalists Announced For Dare-to-Dream Medtech Design Challenge (slideshow and poll)10 Finalists Announced For Dare-to-Dream Medtech Design Challenge (slideshow and poll)

The 360-degree Polyp Detector is a light-weight add-on to the widely used endoscope for a colonoscopy procedure. It features a circular array of many compact medium resolution cameras that each point at a different angle, which provides 360-degree coverage of all sides of the intestinal lining as it travels up the intestine riding on the endoscope. During the operation, the Polyp Detector continuously streams back live video from each camera to a PC via a Zigbee wireless interface. Zigbee is a viable option for its star networking topology, for extremely low power consumption, and for advanced security. A software user interface running on a PC collects the multiple video streams, and performs real-time image processing to determine if a polyp has been detected in any of the camera's field of view. Once it has, the PC software alerts the physician that a polyp has been detected.

Colon cancer has the second-highest mortality rate of all known cancers. During colonoscopy, biopsies are taken of suspicious/premalignant lesions or polyps. Over the years biopsies have been taken using disposable biopsy forceps or wire SNARE devices. At the present, colonoscopies often rely on the skill of the physician performing the procedure but even the best of physicians can miss a polyp or premalignant lesion. Improving the efficiency and accuracy of detecting these lesions would save patients from potentially bad outcomes. As a solution, we propose a device that has a 360-degree ring of cameras that would recognize polyps or precancerous lesions based on software recognition from a compiled image database.