Wearable ultrasound device offers continuous, long-term monitoring of muscle activity. (Credit: Muyang Lin)

A wearable ultrasound device can provide long-term, wireless monitoring of muscle activity with potential applications in healthcare and human-machine interfaces. Designed to stick to the skin with a layer of adhesive and powered by a battery, the device enables high-resolution tracking of muscle function without invasive procedures.

This wearable ultrasound technology may offer a promising new alternative to the current clinical standard, electromyography (EMG), which involves applying metal electrodes on the skin to record electrical muscle activity. Despite EMG’s longstanding use, it suffers from low resolution and weak signals.

When worn on the rib cage, the device can accurately monitor diaphragm thickness with submillimeter precision. Diaphragm thickness is a metric used in the clinic to evaluate diaphragm dysfunction and predict outcomes in ventilated patients. By analyzing muscle motion, the researchers could also detect different breathing patterns, such as shallow and deep breaths.

This functionality could help diagnose conditions linked to breathing irregularities, such as asthma, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In a small group trial, the device successfully distinguished breathing patterns of individuals with COPD from those of healthy participants.

Source 

Topics:
Imaging Imaging Medical Patient Monitoring

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