New AI imaging tech lets surgeons see through blood during surgery

By Matthew Griffin Intelligence and the Senses 25th February 2026

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

The ability to see through blood during surgeries improves the safety and effectiveness of those surgeries.

Matthew Griffin is the World’s #1 Futurist Keynote Speaker and Global Advisor for the G7 and Fortune 500, specializing in exponential disruption across 100 countries. Book a Keynote or Advisory Session — Join 1M+ followers on YouTube and explore his 15-book Codex of the Future series.

Invisible Man, eat your heart out. In a first, scientists have just found a way for surgeons to see through blood during a procedure, effectively making it transparent. On Tuesday, Ocutrx Technologies revealed the innovative tool, named HemoLucence. It reportedly uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered physics to digitally visualize blood as though it were translucent, which should give surgeons a clear view of the tissue beneath while operating. The technology is part of a surgical microscope system that the company plans to test in clinical trials as early as this year.

Researchers created self-assembling proteins that can record the memories of cells

“Having the ability to render blood ‘transparent’ now makes the unseen, in the heat of surgical battle, seen, creating another layer of safety and confidence for surgeons that traditional visual aids can’t provide,” said Leonel Hunt, medical advisor at Ocutrx and an attending surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Spine Center and Cedars-Sinai Orthopedic Center in Los Angeles, in a statement from the company.

The Future of Healthcare by Healthcare Futurist Matthew Griffin

Researchers at Ocutrx’s R&D division, Genius Labs, developed HemoLucence. It’s intended to “overcome blood opacity through advanced computational physics.” The researchers use this physics to understand how light behaves when it passes through areas filled with blood. With the information collected from images of the surgical site at different angles, algorithms then reconstruct in real time what these areas should look like underneath the blood, without surgeons needing to worry about sucking up or flushing out the blood. In tests so far, HemoLucence has been able to visualize areas covered by roughly a quarter inch of human blood, though the company expects the tech will soon reach up to a half inch of blood.

“The ability to render blood as transparent will provide a level of visualization not previously possible in any field of surgery. No matter the discipline or scale, bleeding is a regular part of any surgery and can create several challenges,” said Robert Louis, a neurosurgeon and director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at Hoag Memorial Hospital in California, in a statement from the company. “This breakthrough helps overcome those challenges and is a significant step forward in making surgery safer and more efficient.”

Ditch your telco provider, Blockchain based Mesh networks are coming to town

The company debuted HemoLucence this week at Abu Dhabi Global Health Week 2025. And a brief video of how it works can be seen here. But it will still take some time before you can expect to see it in a real-world operating room. The tech is a feature of the company’s OR-Bot 3D Surgical Microscope System, and clinical trials of the microscope are scheduled to begin either this year or next.

It’s not quite Superman’s X-ray vision, but it’s still pretty impressive for us mere mortals.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.

An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.