Wearable bioadhesive ultrasound shear wave elastography

• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk8426
• Publication Date: 2024-02-09T18:58:44Z
• Authors: Hsiao-Chuan Liu; Yushun Zeng; Chen Gong; Xiaoyu Chen; Piotr Kijanka; Junhang Zhang; Yuri Genyk; Hisham Tchelepi; Chonghe Wang; Qifa Zhou; Xuanhe Zhao
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; 610; 600; Physical and Materials Sciences

Acute liver failure (ALF) is a critical medical condition defined as the rapid development of hepatic dysfunction. Conventional ultrasound elastography cannot continuously monitor liver stiffness over the course of rapidly changing diseases for early detection due to the requirement of a handheld probe. In this study, we introduce wearable bioadhesive ultrasound elastography (BAUS-E), which can generate acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) to induce shear waves for the continuous monitoring of modulus changes. BAUS-E contains 128 channels with a compact design with only 24 mm in the azimuth direction for comfortable wearability. We further used BAUS-E to continuously monitor the stiffness of in vivo rat livers with ALF induced byd-galactosamine over 48 hours, and the stiffness change was observed within the first 6 hours. BAUS-E holds promise for clinical applications, particularly in patients after organ transplantation or postoperative care in the intensive care unit (ICU).