Researchers develop ultrasound stickers that can see inside the body

Pioneering health technology could see consumers use their smartphones to watch babies develop in the womb

A new ultrasound sticker can provide images of internal organs continuously for 48 hours (Felice Frankel/PA Wire)

Scientists believe they have opened the door to “a new era of wearable imaging”, with the creation of stamp-sized ultrasound stickers capable of showing live pictures of our internal organs.

While current ultrasounds require bulky and specialised equipment only available in hospitals and GP surgeries, the new design could eventually make the technology as wearable and accessible as buying plasters at a pharmacy.

The pioneering health technology, created by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is capable of providing images of the insides of our bodies continuously for 48 hours.

Although in their current form the stickers must be connected to instruments which translate the reflected sound waves into images, the engineers are already working towards making the devices wireless – meaning people could observe their unborn babies in real-time on their phone screens.

“We envision a few patches adhered to different locations on the body, and the patches would communicate with your cell phone, where AI algorithms would analyse the images on demand,” said Xuanhe Zhao, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

“We believe we’ve opened a new era of wearable imaging: with a few patches on your body, you could see your internal organs.”

But even in their current form, the engineers say the stickers could have an immediate impact. For example, they could be applied to hospital patients, similarly to heart-monitoring EKG stickers, and could continuously image internal organs without requiring a technician to hold a probe in place for long periods of time.

In a study published this week in the journal Science, the patch was tested on volunteers who performed various activities such as jogging, cycling, lifting weights and drinking fluids.

According to the study, the stickers stuck well and the devices produced live, high-resolution images of major blood vessels and deeper organs such as the heart, lungs and stomach.

For example, the images revealed the changing diameter of major blood vessels when seated versus standing, and captured details of deeper organs – including how the heart changes shape as volunteers exerted during exercise.

The researchers were also able to watch the stomach distend, then shrink back as volunteers drank then later passed juice out of their system.

And as some lifted weights, Prof Zhao and his colleagues were able to detect bright patterns in underlying muscles, signalling temporary microdamage.

“With imaging, we might be able to capture the moment in a workout before overuse, and stop before muscles become sore,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Xiaoyu Chen. “We do not know when that moment might be yet, but now we can provide imaging data that experts can interpret.”

In recent years, researchers have explored designs for stretchable ultrasound probes that would provide portable, low-profile imaging of internal organs – the idea being that such a device would stretch and conform with a patient’s body.

But these experimental designs have produced low-resolution images, in part because the ultrasound transducers end up shifting location relative to each other, distorting the resulting image.

But the new ultrasound sticker design pairs a stretchy adhesive layer with a rigid array of transducers, enabling it to produce higher-quality images over a longer period of time.

“This combination enables the device to conform to the skin while maintaining the relative location of transducers to generate clearer and more precise images,” said study co-author, Chonghe Wang, an MIT graduate student.

The team is also developing software algorithms based on artificial intelligence that can better interpret and diagnose the stickers’ images, and Prof Zhao suggested that their ultrasound stickers could be packaged and purchased by both patients and consumers.

“We imagine we could have a box of stickers, each designed to image a different location of the body,” said Prof Zhao. “We believe this represents a breakthrough in wearable devices and medical imaging.”

Additional reporting by agencies