Ocutrx Technologies Inc. has announced a new surgical imaging technology that allows clinicians to see through pooled blood during procedures without suction or irrigation. The feature, called HemoLucence™, is expected to be part of the company’s OR-Bot™ 3D Surgical Microscope System, which is planned to enter clinical trials in 2025 or 2026.
According to the company, the system uses proprietary AI-powered algorithms and de-scattering techniques to digitally render blood translucent in real time. The visualization is achieved through digital volumetric reconstruction and computational analysis of light behavior through blood, enabling the display of underlying structures during surgery.
In internal testing, the company reports the system visualized anatomy through up to three millimeters of whole human blood and anticipates future capability beyond half an inch.
“The Ocutrx OR-Bot 3D Surgery Microscope’s ability to turn blood clear during surgery is a monumental achievement for the future of surgery, and a new high mark for Ocutrx’s journey towards pioneering innovation in healthcare,” said Michael A. H. Freeman, J.D., CEO and CTO of Ocutrx.
The technology was first demonstrated publicly at Abu Dhabi Global Health Week 2025.
According to the company, HemoLucence relies on multi-angle image acquisition to differentiate between light absorbed by blood and light scattered by red blood cells. Advanced neural network algorithms then reconstruct a 3D visualization of tissue features otherwise hidden by blood.
“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, MD, medical advisor to Ocutrx and attending surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Spine Center and Cedars-Sinai Orthopedic Center in Los Angeles.
Robert Louis, MD, director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach, California, said: “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. This breakthrough helps overcome those challenges and is a significant step forward in making surgery safer and more efficient.”
Jordan Boss, Chief R&D Officer and director of Ocutrx Genius Labs, said the goal was to solve a problem widely considered intractable. “In operating room imaging, seeing through blood in real-time during a surgery has been a long-sought-after tool, considered not just difficult, but impossible, and with current microscopes fundamentally unachievable,” Boss said. “While traditional systems can’t see through blood, our OR-Bot uses AI-driven algorithms to cut through the scatter and reconstruct a clear 3D view of what's underneath, including vessels, nerves, bleed sites, and even tumors.”
William D. Hunter, MD, a neurosurgeon at the Neuroscience and Spine Center in Gastonia, North Carolina, and an Ocutrx medical advisor, said: “This new visualization tool will give us clearer views, better performance, and ultimately, better outcomes for patients.”
According to the company, the HemoLucence feature is part of Ocutrx’s broader focus on integrating artificial intelligence, extended reality, and real-time 3D reconstruction into surgical systems. Ocutrx reports holding 42 issued patents across more than 35 patent families, with additional applications pending.
