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A High-Res 3D Video of the Embryonic Heartbeat

Posted by timothy on from the cool-imaging-tech dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the University of Houston, TX, adapted an imaging technique called optical coherence tomography to capture 3D video of the mammalian heart as it forms. They used the method to image a mouse embryo just 8.5 days past conception and about a day after it starts to form. In the remarkable video a normal heartbeat is visible. Normally optical coherence tomography is used for clinical imaging of the retina. Having such a high-resolution, non-invasive way to image the developing heart could perhaps help doctors treat congenital heart disorders in human babies."

5 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. High Res? by Loomismeister · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    This is a grainy 2D film, not a high res 3D film!

  2. I don't think so... by bradbury · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    A mouse at 8.5 days out of a 19-21 day gestational cycle is about equal to a human at 3-4 months (out of 9 months). I'm not sure but I doubt physicians would be willing to operate on an unborn 3-4 month (12-16 week) old human. However there seems to be a presumption that one would want to invest such time and expense in that potential individual to repair such a congenital defect when it is accepted (at least by my myself) that it might be better to simply abort such a potentially problem prone potential individual and start over.

    It is worth noting that 60-70% of conceptions end in "natural" terminations (presumably due to a self-error detection and correction process). Most likely heart defects may make it past or around such self-regulatory screening processes.

    And yes, for the anti-abortion readers, I'm a cold heartless SOB who will take any "MOD -" points and stick them in the cookie jar on my desk -- and -- FYI, you most probably have no idea what is coming and I am simply going to sit back behind my cookie jar and chuckle when it gets here. For the people who don't know what this really means there are tools that might help called Google and Wikipedia.

    1. Re:I don't think so... by wizardforce · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      There's bound to be some moms out there that would consider aborting *their own* child to be immoral so technology like this isn't worthless just because some other people would choose to just abort and try again.

      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  3. Re:That's VERY impressive. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I don't think there's any way you could do it in humans, short of inserting a source/detector into the uterus

    Forget your ultrasound transducers. Help me find my keys and we'll drive out of here.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. Re:Cool tech. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Forget your high-definition 3-D tomography machine.

    Help me find my keys and we'll drive out of here.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.