Professor Hajime Monzen from Kindai University, Japan
If you’ve ever had an ultrasound, you know that while the procedure itself is generally easy to tolerate, the cold, gooey gel applied to your skin beforehand can be quite uncomfortable. Researchers in Japan have now developed a potential alternative.
Despite its unpleasant texture, temperature, and slight odor, ultrasound gel is essential for the procedure. It allows the transducer—often called a wand—to move smoothly across the skin and prevents air pockets from forming between the device and the body.
Drawbacks and Risks of Traditional Ultrasound Gel
The gel, however, has several drawbacks. It leaves patients feeling sticky afterward, dries out quickly, and often requires multiple reapplications during the scan, increasing both cost and discomfort. Additionally, since ultrasound gel isn’t always produced as a sterile product, the CDC issued a warning last year about the potential risk of bacterial infections for patients.
To overcome these limitations, researchers at Japan’s Kindai University developed a solid gel pad from tamarind seed gum, an all-natural, viscous substance commonly used to thicken and stabilize foods and cosmetics. The pad is flexible enough to conform to body surfaces and has a property called syneresis, which means that it releases water as it contracts spontaneously. Syneresis is the phenomenon you can blame when you find a pool of water at the top of your yogurt.
Solid Gel Pads Deliver High-Quality Images with Greater Patient Comfort
In testing, the researchers captured sonographic images of the carotid arteries, thyroid glands, livers, and hearts of four healthy volunteers. The new solid gel pad produced images of identical quality to those made with traditional gel, but patients reported a much higher degree of satisfaction with the pads. In addition to proving its superior feel, the tests also showed that tamarind gum is a good candidate for sonography, as it doesn’t interfere with the sound waves necessary to produce good images.
The pads remained stable between temperatures of 50-122 °F (10-50 °C) which, along with being easy to handle, means they could find a home in emergency field medicine or in other situations where it would be hard to store multiple bottles of liquid gels. Also, say the researchers, the greater patient comfort levels could reduce a barrier to testing for people who might otherwise avoid sonography.
“Academically, this research sheds light on how the characteristics of tamarind seed gum affect the transmission of ultrasound waves,” says study co-author Yukinori Matsuo. “It offers a fresh strategy for creating materials used in ultrasound procedures. Looking ahead, this work could contribute to ultrasound diagnostics that are simpler, more comfortable for patients, and more environmentally sustainable.”
The researchers conducted a pilot feasibility study, published in Scientific Reports, and stress that larger studies are needed to expand on their preliminary findings.
Read the original article on: New Atlas