Imaging device could help in virus response

A hand-held device that can monitor lung condition would come in handy about now.

After a decade of research, a Waikato professor and his partners are laying plans for that – a new way of getting medical images which could help at the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Images of lungs filled with mucus have appeared with stories explaining what the virus can do to your body – but you can’t do X-rays or CT scans every day, University of Waikato engineering professor Yifan Chen says.

An image created using microwave medical imaging is another matter, but the idea is new and there are not yet devices available on the market.

Chen has been involved in research in the area for about a decade, and says it could provide low-cost, portable, harmless imaging for those affected by Covid-19.

A vaccine for the virus is said to be at least 18 months away; Chen says some microwave imaging products could be one to two years from the market.

‘‘This is quite a long-term battle . . . There could be a second wave.

‘‘I feel it will be there for quite a while before human beings can really manage it and fully control it.’’

His vision is a product like a handheld camera, which would work in a similar way to radar – reflecting waves off its target, which could be analysed to provide an image.

‘‘It doesn’t have to be in contact with your body, there could be some kind of distance.’’

While hospital-level products would take about five years to get through the approval process, consumer products or those designed to flag an initial warning could be ready in a year or two, he said.