Ultrasound ' sticker ' measures tissue stiffness

A wearable ultrasound sticker the size of a postage stamp can continuously measure tissue stiffness and may have a place in monitoring organ transplantation patients, according to research published February 9 in Science Advances. A team of researchers led by Hsiao-Chuan Liu, PhD, and doctoral students Yushun Zeng and Chen Gong of the University of Southern California found that their bio-adhesive ultrasound elastography (BAUS-E) sticker can continuously monitor the stiffness of organs over 48 hours and detect subtle changes that could signal the progression of disease such as organ failure and rejection. The group developed the sticker at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Liu was a visiting scientist at the time of the study. “Our continuous BAUS-E measurements exhibited a similar trend between the increase in liver stiffness and the progression of acute liver failure,” the study authors wrote. While tissues and organs stiffen as people age, this stiffening is more noticeable in tissues with certain diseases, including cancer. Elastography is an ultrasound method used to measure tissue stiffness and has been shown to detect certain cancers. It is also used to monitor patients who recently underwent organ transplantation, with organ stiffening pointing toward acute failure or rejection. However, with traditional ultrasound, monitoring cannot be performed continuously. The researchers noted that this means clinicians may miss key moments in which a trans...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Ultrasound Source Type: news