The
MISTM imager was developed in St Andrews to take thermal pictures
of the body. Millimetre waves are able to penetrate a few mm into
skin before being absorbed or reflected compared, to a few thousandths
of a mm for infrared. Potentially, they can be used to look at the
temperature of the skin at greater depths. Millimetre Waves are
ideal for medical imaging as they travel through bandages. Scans
can be performed without removing dressings thus reducing the risk
of infection.
MISTM stands for the Medical
Imager for Sub-surface Temperature Mapping and is currently
being tested at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.
On the right you can see the colours that you will
see in the photos. You can see what the colours mean in terms of
temperature. The numbers are in degrees celsius. On
the right are (parts of) a number of pictures taken using
MISTM. Can you tell which parts of the body are shown? Click on
the images for the answer and an explanation of some of the interesting
features that they show.
Look
at the objects on the left - can you tell what all the objects
are, hover over the picture to reveal what it looks like in the
visible. Notice that the metal objects show up well: they reflect
the cold surroundings. Plastic is see-through so the handles of
the green scissors almost vanish.The pile of coins are less bright
than the single coins because they are reflecting different surroundings.
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