A few weeks ago I posted a blog regarding the Toshiba IKHD1 being ideal for teaching applications in hospitals. Here is an update on the progress of this remote head HD industrial camera during it's implementation into one of it's many ideal applications:

The Toshiba IK-HD1 remote head high definition industrial color camera was recently highlighted in the May 2008 issue of Biophotonics International© for it's successful integration into a pathology screening application.

According to the article, pathologists, radiologists, and surgeons when looking at pathology slides, needed a new way to collaborate before deciding on a course of treatment.

"Although pathologists often capture data using a digital camera, in the past their first option in presenting the data was a report. They would embed their images into a document and deliver the report to the tumor review board. Unfortunately, this took time and also required the pathologists to anticipate questions. If someone wanted to look at part of a slide at a magnification that differed from the one in the report, he was out of luck.

Pathologists had another option. They could set up a microscope in the review room, hook up a video camera and feed the 30-fps images to a display. However, generally such cameras were analog, and they captured images according to the NTSC standard. As a result, the resolution and the contrast were often limited.

Connecting such a camera to a new high-definition display did not help and sometimes led to problems because the aspect ratio of new displays is 16:9, whereas the camera would be outputting 4:3 aspect ratio images. The difference could change the shape of images on the screen, a potential problem because cell shape is important in pathology.

"Sufficient detail, contrast and color are important when viewing a slide, but these are not the only key parameters in a group of diagnostic session. "Speed is very important. They need to be able to see the whole slide at all the magnifications the microscope has," Tedd Kelemen said.

A high definition camera with a display from Toshiba was eventually brought in for evaluation. The IKHD1 industrial remote head camera outputs data in a 1080i format at 30-fps (frames per second) and has three CCD sensors with a prism block that ensures the right optical alignment of the sensors to one another. Because of the nature of the audience, the alignment has an offset of a half pixel of the green to the red and blue.

According to Gary Pitre, Eastern Regional sales manager of the Imaging Systems Division of Toshiba America, "The human eye sees more green, so when we do that half pixel offset, that makes it the best possible image quality you can get to the human eye."

Even though the IK-HD1 is new on the market, "it is undergoing initial evaluations by the tumor review boards and other parties. So far, these efforts have generated a very positive response. "Everybody agrees it's the best live visualization tool they've ever seen. They have no issues about being able to diagnose from what they're seeing on the display," Kelemen said."

"In addition to clinical settings, the system could be used in a teaching environment, allowing students and instructors to see the same specimen."

**Want to find out what the Toshiba IK-HD1 can do for your application?! **

References:

2008. "Toshiba IK-HD1 True-HD 3CCD Camera." Aegis Electronic Group, Inc. 25 June 2008 <http://aegiselect.com/products/toshiba-ik-HD1.html>

2008. "High Definition Remote Head Color Cameras Model IK-HD1." Toshiba America Information Systems. 25 June 2008 <http://www.toshiba.com/taisisd/indmed/products/prod_detail_ikhd1.jsp>.

Hogan, Hank. "Pathology Screening, in More Ways Than One." Biophotonics International (2008). 25 June 2008 <http://www.photonics.com/content/bio/2008/May/techsolutions/91636.aspx>.

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