Medical Device Daily
There are few treatment options for people who suffer from chronic pain or arthritis outside of pharmaceuticals, and those options can sometimes prove to be harmful if used for an extended period of time. But what if there was a better option with a significant amount of the side effects reduced?
A Cornell Medical College (New York) biomedical engineering graduate student said that he has developed a device that will provide this option – one that is not only of low risk to the patient, but portable.
George Lewis and his colleagues have created what can best be described as a miniaturized device that would allow patients to apply ultrasound therapy to inflamed joints. The device is about the size of an iPod or a pager.
Lewis' creation eliminates the drawback to current ultrasound treatments, which can only be administered in a doctor's office or clinic, since the ultrasound devices available are too bulky and expensive to have in a patient's home.
"Ultrasound has been used for about 30 years now," Lewis said during a live webcast late last week. "But its always been used in a doctor's office. With this device you can get that same therapy, while you're home, while you're jogging... anytime. The plan is to reduce the pharmaceuticals used to treat these conditions."
He said that the device was especially helpful in an environment where healthcare costs are "rising through the roof," because of a plethora of visits to the physicians office.
There will be no more rushed visits to the physician racking up costs in insurance and time. It's all available with the flip of a switch, according to Lewis.
Lewis received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF; Arlington, Virginia) to develop the device and has already entered it into clinical trials.
"What we really want to show is if we can use this [device] on a large number of patients," he said.
But just how does the device work? On its web site NSF provided an example of a patient suffering from a condition called osteoarthritis, which causes excess fluid to build up in the knee and causes it to be inflamed. The tool uses ultrasound to penetrate the joint and surrounding tissue. The device's waves both stimulate the affected area and increase the area's permeability, which helps it to lose excess fluid.
The device comes with a battery that can deliver power for about six to eight hours and only takes about 30 minutes to recharge. Lewis said that there didn't seem to be any complications from using the device and that it is simple and easy to fit on the body.
"It's a low intensity over a long period of time and shouldn't have any side effects," Lewis said.
In the future, Lewis envisions more treatments that his ultrasound device can be applied to including treatment of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. During surgery, he said a surgeon could remove a tumor and replace it with a dissolving drug wafer, which ultrasound waves would then help spread to kill off any cancer cells left behind.
"We're just starting to walk up the mountain," he said in reference to potential therapies the device could be used for.
But the one key question remains, when will this ever get to the market?
Lewis said that he couldn't readily answer that question at this point and said he was less so a business person, and more focused on making sure that the technology works. During the webcast he was also asked if there were any companies that were interested in commercializing the device or if he planned to start his own company to help speed along the market approval.
"I'm not a business person," he admits. "I love what I do here, working with the technology, collaborating with doctors. My goal is to develop the technology so that the next group of innovators can take it to the market."
Omar Ford, 404-262-5546;