BRISTOL -- Kathryn Hinrichs of Bristol went to Bristol Hospital, and Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Chris Betz, to get her injured knee looked at once again. This time, though, instead of taking 45 minutes for an MRI, and then having to book a follow-up appointment, she got her knee looked at and her problem diagnosed within ten minutes, thanks to a hand-held imagine device called Mi-Eye.
“It’s basically a 4k camera inside this little needle (about two millimeters in diameter),” said Dr. Betz, “You put the camera in the knee, pull [a switch] back, the camera deploys, and at that point you start looking inside the knee and you can give your diagnosis.”
The Mi-Eye was designed to be narrow enough that patients like Kathryn can get up and walk away from her diagnosis with no crutches needed. Dr. Betz said it’s used on knees, shoulders and hips, and when it’s indicated, it’s often cheaper, covered by most insurance, faster and in some instances leads to more accurate diagnoses.
“It’s a more comfortable setting for the patient. They’re in the office, they can lay down. It’s not going to go into a tube,” said Dr. Betz.
The results are displayed in full-color, on real time, on a tablet display that the patient can watch as well, and Dr. Betz said patients can take the imaging with them.
“They can download it on their phone, they can take the video with them, and they can actually see something,” said Dr. Betz.
For Kathryn, her imaging and diagnosis were done in about five minutes – she had some fraying in her meniscus.
“I think it’s fantastic being this quick,” she said, “this is great I’ll get to know everything.”
Mi-Eye’s makers said Bristol Hospital is the only hospital in Connecticut currently using the device.