| Start Date: | 1/18/2017 | Start Time: | 4:00 PM |
| End Date: | 1/18/2017 | End Time: | 5:30 PM |
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Event Description
BIOMED Seminar
Title:
Ultrasound in Quality of Life Enhancement
Speaker:
Peter A. Lewin, PhD, Richard B. Beard Distinguished University Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Abstract:
The purpose of this presentation is to introduce ultrasound as one of the most versatile, interdisciplinary and clinically preferred modalities, which in the past decade have gained numerous diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Two of these applications will be discussed in more detail with particular attention to the societal and clinical needs, and within the frame of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules. Specifically, this presentation will describe the development of a novel synergistic technology and present the results of the clinical pilot study focused on improvement of quality of life of patients affected by venous and diabetic ulcers.
Over 500,000 patients annually are treated for venous ulcers alone at a cost exceeding $2,400 per month; this cost excludes the expenses due to limited productivity and quality of life issues related to pain and depression. Hence, there is a need to devise a non-invasive, low-cost technology that would allow therapeutic treatment of chronic wounds and be able to reduce the current high cost of their management. This novel treatment was implemented through the development of a fully wearable, therapeutic ultrasound applicator operating at relatively low frequency (20 kHz) and intensity (<100 mW/cm2, spatial peak, temporal peak) levels.
During the treatment the applicator was used with the functional near infrared (fNIR) optic sensor that permitted concurrent diagnosis of the healing process. The diagnosis was based on the measurement of tissue oxygenation (i. e., concentrations of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin) through diffuse near infrared spectroscopy (DNIRS) and blood flow measurements that were ascertained through diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS). These two technologies, DNIRS and DCS combined into a single optical device, enabled the physician to make swift decisions in wound care procedures.
The challenges in the design of a compact, low weight (20g), battery powered applicator associated with the transducer architecture and efficiency of operation, including electrical power consumption, will be discussed along with the methods developed for measurements of ultrasound exposure parameters. These parameters included pressure amplitudes, spatial field distribution, and rate of delivery. The applicator was successfully validated in a clinical environment. The results of the small pilot clinical study showed a net reduction in venous ulcer wound size after just four weeks. In contrast, patients who did not receive ultrasound treatment had an average increase in wound size during the same time period. The group receiving 15 minutes of 20-kHz ultrasound treatment showed the greatest improvement, with all five patients experiencing complete healing by the 4th treatment.
The outcome of yet another pre-clinical study using the flat (about 10 mm thick) ultrasound applicator will also be discussed. In this pre-clinical study obtained using an animal model, the feasibility of using this applicator design for non-invasive transdermal drug delivery was verified. More specifically, the study outcome indicated that ultrasound is capable of reducing inflammation in a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis. The combination of ultrasound exposure with topical application of an inflammation mediating gel, exhibited statistically significant (p<0.05) enhanced anti-inflammatory properties in comparison with the delivery of the drug or ultrasound treatment alone. Acknowledgements: Drs. M. Neidrauer, R.A DiMaria-Ghalili, M. Weingarten, L. Zubkov, C. Bawiec, Y. Sunny, D. Margolis (University of Pennsylvania), P. Lazarovici (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) and S. Nadkarmi, M.Sc. This work was supported by the NIH R01NR015995 (current), NIH R01EB009670, and NSF 1064802 grants.
Biosketch:
Peter A. Lewin, MSc, PhD, is Richard B. Beard Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia. He is also Director of the Ultrasound Research and Education Center in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems at Drexel University.
Dr. Lewin obtained his MS degree in Electrical Engineering in 1968 and his PhD in Physical Acoustics in 1979 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before receiving his PhD degree, he was employed by Bruel and Kjaer, Denmark, where he was involved in the development of underwater piezoelectric transducers and associated electronics. From 1978 to 1983 he was associated with the Danish Institute of Biomedical Engineering (now Force Institutes) and the University of Denmark, Copenhagen, where his research activities primarily focused on propagation of ultrasound waves in inhomogeneous media and development of PVDF polymer transducers. In 1983, Dr. Lewin joined the faculty of Drexel University. He was awarded several patents in the field of ultrasound and has authored or co-authored over 240 scientific publications, most of them on topics in ultrasound, and is co-editor (with Prof. M. C. Ziskin) of the book titled "Ultrasonic Exposimetry" (CRC Press, 1993).
Dr. Lewin's current research interests are primarily in the field of biomedical ultrasonics, including the design and testing of piezoelectric transducers and sensors, power ultrasonics, ultrasonic exposimetry, tissue characterization using nonlinear acoustics, biological effects of ultrasound, applications of shock waves in medicine, and image reconstruction and processing. Dr. Lewin is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America. He is also a Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM and served as a Chair (1997-1999) of the AIUM's Technical Standards Committee. In addition, Dr. Lewin is a member of the honorary society Sigma Xi and serves as a consultant to the US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Dr. Lewin is also a chairman of one of the working groups within the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Technical Committee on Ultrasonics. In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. |
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Location:
Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building (PISB), Room 120, located on the northeast corner of 33rd and Chestnut Streets. |
Audience:
Undergraduate StudentsGraduate StudentsFacultyStaff |
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