First heart patients diagnosed using new fibre optic technology

First heart patients diagnosed using new fibre optic technology - A new diagnostic technology, developed by scientists at UCL, that uses tiny fibre optic sensors to detect the causes of heart disease, more quickly and accurately than existing methods, has been used for the first time in patients. The iKOr device uses an ultra-thin microcatheter integrated with fibre optic sensors and allows doctors to check both blood pressure and blood flow around the heart and look for signs of narrowing and thickening of the arteries - a common sign of disease. It was developed by a team at UCL's Department of Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering, with assistance from collaborators at Queen Mary University of London. It has since been commercialised through Echopoint, a UCL spinout company. The technology is now being trialled at Barts Health NHS Trust and so far, three patients have undergone a test for heart disease using the iKOr device. The slimline probe is particularly suited at detecting narrowing of the very smallest heart vessels, known as microvasculature. These tiny blood vessels do not show up well in the traditional X-rays (angiograms), which are typically used by cardiologists to image the heart's larger arteries.