This little chip here will provide a real-time 3D view of the heart and blood vessels. Created by the team over at Georgia Tech, it packs 56 ultrasound transmitters and 48 receivers on a 1.5mm wide chip.

The chip is placed at the end of a cardiac catheter wire and can be guided into the circulatory system to provide an interior view of the heart, the coronary arteries and peripheral blood vessels. It will help doctors more accurately locate and evaluate blockages.

F. Levent Degertekin, who led the project, explained it this way:
If you're a doctor, you want to see what is going on inside the arteries and inside the heart, but most of the devices being used for this today provide only cross-sectional images. If you have an artery that is totally blocked, for example, you need a system that tells you what's in front of you. You need to see the front, back and sidewalls altogether. That kind of information is basically not available at this time.
[Georgia Tech via PhysOrg]

Image: Rob Felt / Georgia Tech