During my visit to
Los Angeles I was honored to consult two prominent medical personals, both with Hungarian origin. Firstly, I met with
Professor Daniel Farkas, the director of the MIS research center at the
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He introduced their research efforts aimed to realize the concept of the Operating Room of the Future. They will soon be ready with a demo room, where every imaging device is personalizable, all equipment is linked to the central network, the screens are beyond HD and new imaging techniques allow the doctor to shorten the operating time significantly. The key features they develop are the multi-modal, multi-layered imaging architecture. By integrating different devices, such as dof-endoscopes, single-photon fluoroscopy, lifetime measurement, they will be able to determine tissue quality in-vivo, on the fly. This may be essential in cancer treatment. They are also very good in
Point Spread Function Engineering, which means the extension of the confocal scanning microscopy's resolution by designing diffractive elements that properly shape the point spread function. Their biggest advantage is that the new imaging system will only be an easily attachable add-on to the classic optical microscopes.
Another day, I was honored to have dinner with Professor George Berci, one of the early
leader in laparoscopic surgery. He truly believes in micro- and nano-scale surgical robotics. Several small devices are under development that can be inserted into the body, navigate around organs and partially autonomously treat the target location, without affecting the neighboring tissues. They can also deliver drugs, making a treatment several times more effective. Examples of such systems, like the
inchworm-like robot and capsules developed at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy by Paolo Dario et. al.
During my visit to 
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