Expectant mothers may soon be able to monitor their unborn children’s development on a computerized device.
A stamp-sized sticking plaster that can capture high-resolution photos of the heart, lungs, and other organs was created by MIT engineers. For 48 hours, the gadget would continuously produce an ultrasound image. The ‘sticker’ may help pregnant women monitor their fetuses as well as enhance cancerous tumor monitoring. The stickers, according to researchers, offer a wide range of possible uses, including accelerating disease diagnosis and treatment.
Xuanhe Zhao, a professor of mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering at MIT, is the study’s senior author. They envision a few patches adhered to different locations on the body, and the patches would communicate with the cellphone, where AI algorithms would analyze the images on demand, he stated in a press release. They think they have ushered in a new era of wearable imaging: you could observe your internal organs with a few patches on your body.
The MIT researchers conducted a series of tests on healthy volunteers who wore the stickers on their arms, stomach, neck, chest, and other body areas. They stayed attached to their skin for up to two days while obtaining detailed photos of the underlying anatomy. Participants engaged in a range of activities in the lab during this period, including sitting and standing, jogging, riding, and lifting weights. Images showed that major blood arteries’ diameters changed depending on whether a person was sitting or standing.
They also recorded information about deeper organs, such as how the structure of the heart changes during activity. Furthermore, as subjects drank and later passed juice out of their systems, the researchers could observe the stomach expand before contracting again. Prof. Zhao and the team observed brilliant patterns in the underlying muscles of certain subjects when they lifted weights, indicating transient microdamage.
According to research author Dr. Xiaoyu Chen, with imaging, they might be able to record the time in an exercise before overuse, and stop before muscles become sore. Although they do not yet know when it might occur, they can now offer imaging data that professionals can decipher. The team is also creating artificial intelligence-based software algorithms that can more accurately decipher and diagnose the images of the stickers. According to Prof. Zhao, customers and patients might package and buy ultrasound stickers.
Stretchable ultrasonic probe designs have been investigated recently to enable internal organ imaging that is portable and low-profile. With the goal of molding to the curve of a patient’s body, these devices offered a flexible array of tiny ultrasonic transducers. However, because of their stretch, these experimental designs have resulted in low-resolution photos. As the body moves, transducers move in relation to one another, distorting the image.
