Engineers have created a stamp-sized sticker that clings to the skin and provides continuous ultrasound imaging, which could revolutionize the way ultrasound imaging is performed.
This is currently done with sophisticated and hefty equipment that requires specialized technicians. These gadgets produce real-time images of the heart, lungs, and other organs.
However, they are typically only offered in hospitals and medical facilities, making them unavailable to a large number of people.
This is the problem that engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) set out to overcome with their new invention.
They avoided the usage of cumbersome machinery by developing a little sticker that clings to the skin and delivers continuous ultrasound imaging for 48 hours.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the stickers, researchers affixed them to volunteers and used the gadget to obtain live, high-resolution photographs of blood vessels and organs such as the lungs, stomach, and heart. The volunteers were forced to execute activities such as standing, sitting, biking, and jogging while the sticker remained firmly adhered to their skin and recorded the organs of the subjects.
The current gadget design, as detailed in the study report, requires the sticker to be attached to an instrument that converts the collected data or sound wave into images. However, if the device is made wireless, experts believe it might be utilized for a variety of reasons.
“We envision a few patches adhered to different locations on the body, and the patches would communicate with your cellphone, where AI algorithms would analyse the images on demand. We believe we’ve opened a new era of wearable imaging: With a few patches on your body, you could see your internal organs,” said Xuanhe Zhao, professor of mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering at MIT. Zhao is also the senior author of the study.
The team is now working toward enabling the device to function wirelessly while they are also developing artificial intelligence-based software algorithms that will allow for better interpretation and diagnosis of the sticker’s images.
