Wearable Monitor Aids in Early Diagnosis of Deep Body Cancers

Sunday - December 17 2023, 19:46 UTC - 11 months ago

MIT researchers have designed a wearable ultrasound monitor in the form of a patch that can image organs within the body without an ultrasound operator or application of gel. The patch accurately image the bladder and determine its volume, and can be adapted to monitor other organs within the body and enable earlier diagnosis of deep body cancers.

MIT researchers have designed a wearable ultrasound monitor, in the form of a patch, that can image organs within the body without the need for an ultrasound operator or application of gel. In a new study, the researchers showed that their patch can accurately image the bladder and determine how full it is. This could help patients with bladder or kidney disorders more easily track whether these organs are functioning properly, the researchers say. This approach could also be adapted to monitor other organs within the body by changing the location of the ultrasound array and tuning the frequency of the signal. Such devices could potentially enable earlier detection of cancers that form deep within the body, such as ovarian cancer.

The wearable device, designed to monitor bladder and kidney health, is made from silicone rubber and can flexibly conform to the body. It is embedded with five ultrasound arrays made from a new piezoelectric material that the researchers developed for this device. The arrays are positioned in the shape of a cross, which allows the patch to image the entire bladder, which is about 12 by 7 centimeters when filled. It is able to accurately image the bladder within 10 seconds of attaching it to skin.

The researchers showed that the patch can measure the volume of the bladder accurately and the readings showed agreement with those obtained from a traditional ultrasound probe. This technology can be used to image other organs within the body by changing the location of the ultrasound array and tuning the frequency of the signal.

“This technology is versatile and can be used not only on the bladder but any deep tissue of the body. It’s a novel platform that can do identification and characterization of many of the diseases that we carry in our body,” says Canan Dagdeviren, an associate professor in MIT’s Media Lab and the senior author of the study. This patch could potentially enable earlier detection of ovarian cancer, as well as other forms of cancer such as lymphoma, colon, or pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, it could help track kidney or bladder disorders at home, without having to visit a medical facility.

Lin Zhang, an MIT research scientist; Colin Marcus, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science; and Dabin Lin, a professor at Xi’an Technological University, are the lead authors of a paper describing the work, which was published recently in Nature Electronics.