The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC) estimates that between 60 and 70 million people in the US are affected by digestive diseases each year. Annually, diseases of the GI tract account for more than 30 million office visits and more than 10 million GI endoscopic procedures in the United States alone for the examinations of digestive tract including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, and rectum. The associated national cost is over $60 billion per year. Aside from early stage prevention, effective, low cost, and comfortable early diagnosis technologies are in great need to improve the situation. Traditional minimally invasive endoscopies still have major structural design drawbacks causing significant discomfort and billions of dollars' more to the patients. Built on our patent pending 360 degree imaging optics, with unique image unwarping and robust panoramic stabilization techniques, our proposed system will have the following clinic impact and significance: A minimally invasive and effective 360 degrees viewing video endoscopy: In addition to the traditional forward looking view, our equipment offers instant 360 degrees viewing images mechanically free, there is no need to bend the tip any more. No missing GI disorder areas: Our equipment offers a complete 360 degrees surrounding of the GI tract, no area will be missed. Accurate and rapid diagnosis: Through more effective image registration and stabilization, System SW is expected to help GI doctors/nurses to rapidly (expected by a factor of 3) and accurately diagnose abnormalities. .. 'Chip-on-the-tip' low cost system for better mass acceptance and effective disease prevention: Due to its unique structural and optical design, we expect total system cost around $300. Expandable and scalable technology: The proprietary omni-directional technology developed can be easily applied to existing diagnosis instruments (endoscopes, colonscope, gastroscope, etc) to provide similar benefits to the patients The research report published by Global Markets Direct finds that, driven by the increasing number of the chronically ill population and aging, the U.S. flexible endoscope market valued at $693 million in 2008 is forecast to grow by 7.7% annually during 2008-2015 to reach $1.1 billion by 2015. The market of the rigid endoscopes (e.g. laparoscopy, urology and arthroscopy) is slightly smaller than flexible endoscopes, but with similar market growth rate. Global market is approaching $10 billion. With the advance of the emerging economies, the global endoscope demand is expected to grow with an increased rate. The commercialization potential and economic impact of the proposed system and technology is thus significant.
The endoscopy system and technology developed under this SBIR project will provide great benefit to GI patients by providing a low cost and minimally invasive method for early GI tract disease diagnosis and prevention. The proposed system provides an innovative panoramic imaging and traditional forward looking imaging technique leading to less discomfort to patients, much shorter diagnosis time yet with more accurate results. With the extended capability over current endoscopes, proposed system is expected to have a reasonably large market share of this 10 billion dollar industry. Other medical areas benefitting from this research include urology, neurology, gynecology, arthroscopy etc. for the next generation cystoscopy, neuroendoscopy, laparoscopy, etc. Non-medical fields to benefit this technology include commercial perimeter surveillance, and water and gas pipe inspection - another multi-billion market.
