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The Second Coming of Ultrasound (wired.com)

Posted by msmash on from the second-life dept.

Ultrasound, which works on the principle of piezoelectricity, is finding a second lease of life in medicine, Wired outlines. Applying voltage to a piezoelectric crystal makes it vibrate, sending out a sound wave. When the echo that bounces back is converted into electrical signals, you get an image of, say, a fetus, or a submarine. But in the last few years, the lo-fi tech has reinvented itself in some weird new ways. From a report: Researchers are fitting people's heads with ultrasound-emitting helmets to treat tremors and Alzheimer's. They're using it to remotely activate cancer-fighting immune cells. Startups are designing swallowable capsules and ultrasonically vibrating enemas to shoot drugs into the bloodstream. One company is even using the shockwaves to heal wounds -- stuff Curie never could have even imagined. So how did this 100-year-old technology learn some new tricks? With the help of modern-day medical imaging, and lots and lots of bubbles.

42 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. It Was Gone? by Thelasko · · Score: 2

    Ultrasound was gone? What happened to it? Surely it wasn't replaced by massive and expensive MRI machines. What technology took it's place?

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    1. Re:It Was Gone? by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

      Relax, it's just some drivel from Wired. The writer was probably told to write about technology, looked around and thought "everyone writes about computers," then saw his radio and looked up how radios work. After realizing that was over his head he spotted a speaker, and discovered the wonderful effect known as "piezoelectricity" - which struck him as particularly sci-fi sounding and since he himself had never heard of it must surely have been new, afterall, he's a writer and if he can steer public opinion he must know more than everyone else except maybe vetted scientists and cutting edge researchers working on this new-fangled "piezoelectricity" research.

    2. Re:It Was Gone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      They are looking at having active medical dressing to heal wounds. If you have something like an arterial blister (which is when the actual arteries in the skin disintegrate due to infection and cause the rest of the skin tissue to die), then the only treatment is a synthetic blister, or a waterproof bandage with a porous non-stick layer, hydrogel interior and waterproof exterior to draw out the infection and absorb exudate. This takes months as the wound can only close as the edges shrink and requires the dressing replaced weekly to replace iodine pads. They are looking at ways of accelerating blood circulation in the area. One way is through ultrasonic vibration to help molecules cross cell membranes and accelerate growth.

      http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201603497/full

    3. Re:It Was Gone? by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      It is about time somebody claimed to have a patent on "Ultra-crap" because

      a) They would get rich quick
      and
      b) they would save us from this kind of drivel

      No, wait ...

      I, personally, have applied for a patent on "piezoelectric powered ultracrap". The most obvious application would appear to be giving submarines enemas, but we are working hard to find other uses, possibly even legitimate ones.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    4. Re:It Was Gone? by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

      The most obvious application would appear to be giving submarines enemas, but we are working hard to find other uses, possibly even legitimate ones.

      Have you considered replacing the submarines with Japanese prostitutes and the ultrasound with electric eels?

    5. Re:It Was Gone? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Ultrasound also speeds up the healing process for broken bones dramatically.

    6. Re:It Was Gone? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Medical ultrasound is alive and well. I worked for two of those companies. These are the highest tech companies I've worked at in many ways. I didn't like the "lo-fi" insult here, the imaging is very good these days.

      Oh, MRI machines are lots smaller now too. You don't even have go to into a claustrophobic tube either, they have "open MRI" machines.

    7. Re:It Was Gone? by PPH · · Score: 1

      You don't even have go to into a claustrophobic tube either,

      I don't get this. I had an MRI on my head once. They asked me if I wanted Valium to calm myself down during the procedure (No). And gave me a button to push if I felt panic coming on. I dozed off* and they had to wake me when it was over.

      *Something about my training to take advantage of a comfy foxhole between firefights.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    8. Re:It Was Gone? by Thelasko · · Score: 1

      Ultrasound these days is relatively cheap and portable. Because of those reasons, it's probably used now more than ever. I didn't appreciate the insult either.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    9. Re:It Was Gone? by Thelasko · · Score: 1

      Ultrasound machines are the size of briefcases these days. MRI machines have a long way to go before they become that small.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    10. Re:It Was Gone? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Ultrasound is the size of handheld gaming systems now. But MRI used to take up large chunks of a room, and i know some in the 80s had to be installed by opening up a hole in the side of a hospital. Today they're relatively small and you can fit several in a room.
      Ie, http://image.made-in-china.com...

      Ultrasound doesn't need large components outside of the transducer, so it's easy to make it compact. MRI has components are are very difficult to shrink, and the bed is an integrated component as well. Both imaging systems are essentially heavy data processing, but those components have shrink over time, gotten faster and are consuming less power, and that in itself is creating new applications and abilities (ie, there's even real time MRI imaging now which used to be considered impractical).

    11. Re:It Was Gone? by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but "open" MRI's are still pretty closed at the magnets, and the image quality isn't as good as closed-tube.

      That said, ultrasound is absolutely astonishingly good. A modern portable Sonosite will produce images that a cart-sized machine couldn't have made fifteen years ago.

    12. Re:It Was Gone? by dsgrntlxmply · · Score: 1

      Very definitely not gone. A few years ago I developed sudden and alarming symptoms in my R eye vision. I drove myself to the nearest ER. The ER physician did a careful exam with an ophthalmoscope, then with a specialized small ultrasound unit.

      The ultrasound quickly eliminated the possibility of a detached retina, and allowed confident diagnosis that no condition required emergency treatment. The cost was maybe $300.

      A subsequent office visit to an ophthalmologist confirmed that this was a posterior vitreous detachment. Myopes have a greater tendency to develop these in later life, due to more acute curvature at the retinal surface.

    13. Re:It Was Gone? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      It's not the small tube that get's some people, it's the click-wirrrrrrrr-click, snap, click,click,click while in the small tube. Didn't bother me either, I ended up nicely dozing off during my head MRI. It is very distressing on a lot of kids though, so some of the first places to get those open MRI machines were sick-kids hospitals.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    14. Re:It Was Gone? by PPH · · Score: 1

      It is very distressing on a lot of kids though,

      Evidently, these aren't the same kids that think it's a blast to crawl into a garbage can and roll down a hill.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  2. Here's 3 words that don't belong together... by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...ultrasonically vibrating enemas...

    [shudder]

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    1. Re: Here's 3 words that don't belong together... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Prostate fun! Feeling kinky?

    2. Re:Here's 3 words that don't belong together... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      ...ultrasonically vibrating enemas...

      Sounds like a party to me.

      Eat some mushrooms and put some early Hawkwind on the headphones. Man, that's living.

      https://youtu.be/IfniG-AdSC4

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Here's 3 words that don't belong together... by PPH · · Score: 1

      /b/ is that way --->

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:Here's 3 words that don't belong together... by sydbarrett74 · · Score: 1

      ...ultrasonically vibrating enemas...

      I see a company like Lovense exploiting this.

      --
      'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
  3. Healing crystals! by irrational_design · · Score: 1

    Dude! I totally knew those healing crystals I bought were legit!

  4. A fetus or a submarine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "When the echo that bounces back is converted into electrical signals, you get an image of, say, a fetus, or a submarine." ...which makes pre-natal checkups very, very exciting.
    "Congratulations Mrs Doe! It's an Ohio-class!"

    1. Re:A fetus or a submarine? by rogoshen1 · · Score: 3, Funny

      that would definitely require a sea section.

    2. Re:A fetus or a submarine? by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1

      I guess you had to dive deep for that one

    3. Re:A fetus or a submarine? by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 3, Funny

      But we already have a generation called Baby Boomers

    4. Re:A fetus or a submarine? by shaitand · · Score: 1

      As a recent father I can assure you, those ultrasound pictures were neither a fetus nor a submarine. It's a bit more like the x-ray glasses you could order out of a comic book once upon a time.

  5. Vibrating enemas? by mi · · Score: 4, Funny

    ultrasonically vibrating enemas

    Ok, this may be awesome...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  6. !Gravis Ultrasound by r_naked · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was really looking forward to an updated GUS :(

    --
    -- http://anonet.org -- The internet the way it was meant to be. Check it out, you may be surprised.
    1. Re:!Gravis Ultrasound by sabbede · · Score: 1
      DAMNIT!

      Beat me to it.

    2. Re:!Gravis Ultrasound by Miser · · Score: 1

      Seconded. That's the first thing I thought also. I still have my upgraded GUS (with 256kilobytes) in my original first 486 PC.

      I really need to put in a new power supply in that thing (to prevent smoke) and fire that puppy up for some nostalgia.

    3. Re:!Gravis Ultrasound by coldie · · Score: 1

      I was one of the original engineers on the GUS. It's still one of the nicest pieces of audio hardware...

    4. Re:!Gravis Ultrasound by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I also thought this was about the Gravis soundcard.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    5. Re:!Gravis Ultrasound by sabbede · · Score: 1
      No kidding? That's awesome! You made my first soundcard!

      That said, my dad has a bone to pick with you. First, the GUS wasn't compatible with OS/2, so he came home one day to find MSDOS instead. Second, since it was pre-internet (at least pre-me having it), I lived in New York, you guys were in Vancouver, and software updates/patches from the Gravis BBS were often needed, our phone bill was insane.

      Still, best music around without studio grade hardware. I don't think dad appreciated that. He had some bizarre notion that computers were for work, not games.

      Thank you.

    6. Re:!Gravis Ultrasound by Miser · · Score: 1

      Now that's cool. Loved that card. Also loved that it had native MOD (and other tracker type formats) support.

      You're really, really, are making me want to get that old PC out!

      -Miser

  7. Re:What Curie has anything to do with ultrasound? by aicrules · · Score: 1

    As either a joke or an inability to read the article, this fails.

  8. Congratulations are in order by HangingChad · · Score: 1

    you get an image of, say, a fetus, or a submarine.

    Congratulations, Mrs. Johnson, you're going to be the proud mother of a Sea Wolf.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  9. Editing. by ScentCone · · Score: 1

    Ultrasound, which works on the principle of piezoelectricity, is finding a second lease of life in medicine, Wired outlines.

    Was looking forward to reading how wired outlines were going to be used in medicine. And ... the phrase is "lease on life."

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  10. Re:unborn baby not fetus by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1

    Fetus is the medical term. Unborn Baby is the term that pseudo-theocrats use. or are they real theocrats?

  11. Re:What Curie has anything to do with ultrasound? by scottrocket · · Score: 1

    As I recall, the Curies used a piezocrystal & carefully balanced weight to measure suspected isotope sources/masses-meh look it up, my brain is fuzzy today...: )

  12. Re:What Curie has anything to do with ultrasound? by scottrocket · · Score: 1

    Well I failed, it never occurred to me to read a Wired article, shame on me.

  13. Re:works on the principle of piezoelectricity?!? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    It's Wired, what do you expect? I'm surprised the imbecile didn't "correct" it to pizzaelectricity or piecesofelectricity.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  14. Re:unborn baby not fetus by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    They're undead theocrats.
    When a corpse bloats, can we say it has risen?

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