Fear of needles could
become a thing of the past.
A painkilling device
approved by the FDA could offer
relief to children and adults who hate the
sharp stab of pain that comes with needles.
The medical device, called
SonoPrep, uses an ultrasonic method created by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology) researchers to make skin temporarily more permeable. A painless
15-second treatment by the new device, followed by an application of
lidocaine cream, will anesthetize the skin in five minutes. By itself, lidocaine takes
one hour to work.
Because the method is
simple and painless, and speeds up the action of lidocaine--a topical
anesthetic commonly used in pediatrics and on critically ill adults and
children who must endure repeated needle sticks--it could become standard
procedure in doctor''s offices and hospitals. Another use would be before
painful procedures such as angiography, balloon angioplasty, and the insertion
of venous catheters.
The device was developed by
Robert Langer, the Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering at MIT and his colleagues Joseph Kost and Professor Daniel
Blankschtein of MIT''s Department of Chemical Engineering, and MIT alumnus Samir
Mitragotri (MIT Ph.D. 1996), who is now on the faculty of the University of
California at Santa Barbara.
The small, battery-powered
device applies a low-frequency, ultrasonic energy to the skin for 15 seconds. The
sound waves open small cavities in the skin by disorganizing the lipid
bi-layer, creating tiny, reversible channels through which fluids can be
extracted and delivered. The skin goes back to its normal state within 24
hours.
"The best thing is
that approval of this device opens the door to many new uses such as
glucose-sensing or insulin delivery for diabetics," said Langer, who
explained that the microscopic openings created in the skin are much too small
to see, but large enough for molecules relevant to medicine to pass through.
Ultimately, the SonoPrep
device could be coupled with other devices that sense the level of sugar in a
diabetic''s blood and/or deliver insulin or other medication to the blood. The
scientists believe that the same mechanism can be used to deliver routine
vaccinations painlessly within the next five years.