Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have published their first proof-of-concept study showing that temporarily implanting a tiny ultrasonic device at the site of a spinal cord injury can be feasible, safe and potentially useful.
The findings, published Nov. 4 in Science Advances, come from an animal study of the Multimodal Ultrasound System for Injury Care, or MUSIC. The work follows a $13.48 million award from the Defense Department.
The device, which is about the size of a small bandage, is placed over the spinal cord at the injury site during surgery. It combines diagnostic ultrasound, which provides real-time insight into blood flow and tissue changes around the injury, with therapeutic ultrasound. Researchers designed it to support clinical decisions while patients recover in the ICU and to reduce the risk of complications such as stroke, blindness or further loss of movement.
Principal investigator Amir Manbachi, PhD, associate professor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said devices used to manage spinal cord injury should be able to track and treat physiology locally, because that is where the injury’s biology plays out.
Nicholas Theodore, MD, a former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon and current adjunct professor of medicine who created the device with Dr. Manbachi, said, “Timing is critical for recovery.”
MUSIC received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in 2023. Related patents are assigned to Johns Hopkins University, and commercialization could financially benefit the inventors.
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