Revolutionary device which costs $100 treats cancer
George K. Lewis, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at Cornell, has developed a revolutionary therapeutic ultrasound device which can treat cancer and relieve arthritis. What makes it even greater is the size and the price — it fits in a palm of a hand and costs only US$100.
Ultrasound is used all around the globe as a nondestructive medical imaging technique. Sound waves can pass through tissue and allow, for example, a pregnant woman to see the child inside of her. What Lewis did is use high-energy ultrasound to make his device so powerful that it can treat conditions such as prostate tumor or “kill” kidney stones. The device can also relieve arthritis and can even improve the drug delivery process after brain surgery (and other types of surgeries, such as plastic surgery.)
“New research and applications are going to spin out, now that these systems will be so cheap, affordable and portable in nature,” said George.
George’s device is currently being tested at Weill Cornell Medical College. Their lab is performing tests in animals to determine whether low doses of the chemical hydrogen sulfide, known to be toxic at high doses, might be able to minimize such injury by slowing cellular metabolism.
“The medical doors that Lewis’ device may one day open are groundbreaking,” said Peter Henderson, assistant professor of plastic surgery at Cornell, who is working with George.
“People are realizing that when harnessed appropriately, you can use ultrasound to treat things as opposed to just diagnose them,” Henderson said. “It’s a wide-open field right now, and George’s device is going to play a huge role in catalyzing the discovery of new and better therapeutic applications.”
Source: cornell.edu
