A wearable ultrasound sticker roughly the size of a postage stamp could help enable continuous medical imaging of internal organs for patients on the move, a new study finds.
Ultrasound imaging is one of the most common medical tools for scanning inside the body in
a safe, noninvasive manner. Currently, to image with ultrasound, first a liquid gel is applied to a patient’s skin that helps transmit ultrasound waves. Then an ultrasound probe, or transducer, is pressed against the gel.
Continuous long-term ultrasound imaging could help shed light on potentially vital changes in a patient’s health over days or even months. However, ultrasound imaging currently requires bulky, rigid equipment, making long-term monitoring difficult.
In addition, capturing ultrasound images demands highly trained sonographers to properly apply and orient the ultrasound probes onto a patient’s body. Practically speaking, and even just to avoid repetitive motion injuries, these practical restrictions often limit the length of ultrasound sessions. For patients who need long periods of imaging, some hospitals offer probes on robotic arms that can hold a transducer in place without tiring. However, the liquid ultrasound gel flows away and dries out over time, interrupting the sessions and producing less-than-ideal results.
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