Researchers in the United States have made a major technological breakthrough in regard to treating heart diseases. Scientists have developed microchip technology that will be able to provide surgeons with forward-looking, real-time, three-dimensional imaging from inside the heart, coronary arteries and peripheral blood vessels.

It is a giant step forward in regard to this type of technology as it will be able to navigate surgeons working on a patient’s heart more accurately and potentially allow more of patients’ clogged arteries to be cleared without having to endure major surgical procedures.

The new device incorporates ultrasound transducers with processing electronics on a single 1.4 millimeter silicon chip. The chip will then calculate these signals and allow data from more than a hundred elements on the device to be transmitted using just 13 tiny cables, permitting it to easily travel through circuitous blood vessels.

The images produced by the device will be able to show significantly more information than existing cross-sectional ultrasounds.F. Levent Degertekin, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology believes that the device will significantly improve heart treatment.

Mr. Degertekin said “If you’re a doctor, you want to see what is going on inside the arteries and inside the heart, but most of the devices being used for this today provide only cross-sectional images. If you have an artery that is totally blocked, for example, you need a system that tells you what’s in front of you. You need to see the front, back and sidewalls altogether. That kind of information is basically not available at this time.”