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From Precision Missile to Precision Medical Technology

(Ha'aretz) Amnon Barzilai - After the failure of Israeli Air Force jets to penetrate Egypt's anti-aircraft system during the Yom Kippur War, Israel developed a technological solution, the Popeye, the television-guided missile with a range of 100 kilometers. In the late 1980s, Israeli scientists began work on a mini-camera for photographing the inside of the human body based on the principles used to operate the Popeye missile, leading to InSightec's ExAblate 2000, a focused ultrasound system that can remove malignant growths in a noninvasive procedure. The technology includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which makes it possible to see in real-time what is going on inside the body; a system that emits focused ultrasound waves that increases the temperature of the affected tissue to 60 degrees Celsius and destroys it; and the ability to measure the temperature with the required level of precision, monitor the destruction of the tissue, and allow the surgeon to know that he succeeded in destroying the affected tissue.
2005-01-07 00:00:00
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