UW startup achieves a worlds first with tiny camera used in brain surgery [Video]

A tiny camera was recently used in a procedure in Ottawa to help diagnose and treat a patient who suffered multiple strokes, making it a world’s first.

The device was developed by Kitchener company, Vena Medical, which started out of the University of Waterloo’s startup incubator Velocity.

The camera is barely wider than a strand of hair, which is helpful as it weaves through tight spaces in the body.

“About a third of a millimeter in diameter. So it’s very, very small. The next smallest is three to four times the size of that,” said Michael Phillips, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

Vena Medical’s camera is inserted into a tube.

Phillips and his other co-founder, Phil Cooper, wanted to fill an industry gap in the medical field.

Between the two of them, the duo has seven physicians in their immediate families.

They said, historically, it’s been difficult to see exactly what’s going on inside veins or arteries.

“Physicians …