A NONINVASIVE MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENT

BY COMBINING ENDOSCOPY WITH NEAR-INFRARED REFLECTANCE ANALYSIS, A NEW MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENT AND A NEW METHODOLOGY WILL BE CREATED. THE INSTRUMENT WILL RECEIVE DATA BY A SAFE, IN SITU, NONINVASIVE EXAMINATION OF HUMAN TISSUES AND LESIONS. DATA SO OBTAINED WILL BE COMPARED WITHKNOWN DATA STORED IN A COMPUTER MEMORY BANK. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW METHODOLOGY WILL YIELD A DIAGNOSIS THAT WILL BE EXTREMELY ACCURATE AND WILL HAVE A HIGH DEGREE OF CERTAINTY. THIS METHODOLOGY WILL SUBSTITUTE OBJECTIVE INTERPRETATION FOR SUBJECTIVE INTERPRETATION, HELPING TO DE-EMPHASIZE THE HUMAN FACTOR IN DIAGNOSIS. THIS INSTRUMENT CAN ALSO BE USED AS A RESEARCH TOOL. BECAUSE THE INSTRUMENT WILL MEASURE AND RECORD CHEMICAL CHANGES IN TISSUES, IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO OBSERVE AND RECORDTHE CHANGES THAT TAKE PLACE WHEN NORMAL TISSUE CHANGES INTO A NONMALIGNANT TUMOR, WHICH IN TURN BECOMES MALIGNANT. IN GENETIC RESEARCH OR DIAGNOSIS, THIS INSTRUMENT MAY BE ABLE TO DETERMINE DEFECTIVE GENES MORE RAPIDLY AND MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN IS POSSIBLE BY OTHER METHODS. AS A NONMEDICAL TOOL, THIS INSTRUMENT MAY BE USED COMMERCIALLY-FOR EXAMPLE, IN A NONINVASIVE TECHNIQUE TO MEASURE THE RIPENESS OF MELONS (THE RIPENESS OF WHICH DEPENDS UPON THE SUGAR CONTENT).