The ultrasonic machine of the future is the size of a postage stamp or a sticker

РУССКАЯ ВЕРСИЯ ПУБЛИКАЦИИ:

Ультразвуковой аппарат будущего размером с почтовую марку или наклейку

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed self-adhesive patches that perform ultrasounds of internal organs. The novelty is indispensable for monitoring the development of pregnancy, the consequences of overtraining of athletes or the current state of the tumor.

High-definition ultrasound by applying a small self-adhesive bandage to the skin instead of an abundance of bulky equipment and the need to train an operator to work with a gel probe - this is what developers from MIT offer the world. Patient can wear the patch for 48 hours. And all this time, the device will take pictures of the functioning of the organs while performing various actions. The operation of the sticker is equivalent to that of a probe: it emits ultrasound, using wireless technology to display the patient's organs.

The size of the self-adhesive patch is approximately 2 square centimeters in diameter and 3 millimeters thick. Between two layers of adhesive and elastomer that adhere directly to the skin, there is a hard hydrogel that facilitates the transmission of ultrasound because it never dries out. The assembly supports a rigid array of transducers, which helps to produce sharper and more accurate images.

High-definition real-time images of major blood vessels and deeper organs such as the heart, lungs and stomach were obtained.

Testing showed high quality of deep ultrasound of organs using a new microdevice.