A Near-Infrared Imaging (NIFI) technology, made in India, has been used for the first time at a private hospital here to treat a 59-year-old goitre patient, a statement said on July 28.

The patient was suffering from thyroid swelling for many years and with time the entire right neck was affected, causing difficulty in neck movement, it said. The NIFI is an effective technology for identifying the parathyroid gland during surgery, the statement said.

The hospital, a private facility in west Delhi, which adopted the technology to conduct the surgery, said, with its availability in India, better clinical outcomes can be offered to patients. Adoption of this technology is a step toward the make-in-India initiative by the Government of India.

Director of Surgical Oncology at the hospital, Mandeep Singh Malhotra, said that NIFI uses Infrared technology to identify and preserve the parathyroid glands during thyroid surgery.

The use of NIFI offers significant benefits to patients by reducing the post thyroid surgery calcium derangement to less than 1 per cent. The use of a nerve monitor helps in identifying and preserving the voice nerve, he said.