Microbubbles Help to See Inside the Body

An American biologist is using microbubbles to develop better ultrasound technology that could be used in an ambulance and help medical staff diagnose patients on the spot, potentially saving lives.

A few weeks after GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK) biologist Dr. Jason Castle signed up for EMT (emergency medical technician) training in upstate New York, his crew got an emergency call from the family of an elderly man. The sick man was lying in bed and breathing heavily. He was weak and dizzy, but his symptoms were elusive. Dr. Castle felt exasperated. “You go in with a blank slate as to what the problem could be, you check the vitals, and if you suspect a heart attack, you take him to the hospital for tests,” he stated. “If this were the case, between transport, CT [computed tomography] imaging, and stent placement an extremely critical one to two hours would have elapsed,” Dr. Castle said.

Dr. Castle, at his GE Global Research (GRC; Niskayuna, NY, USA), is an ultrasound researcher experimenting with “microbubbles,” gas-filled spheres the size of red bloods cells that can flow through the bloodstream, reflect sound waves, and help flesh out otherwise grainy ultrasound images. “They are exactly what they sound like, just little bubbles filled with very dense gas that acts as a contrast agent. When you inject these microbubbles, it’s like turning on the light inside the heart.

Dr. Castle is using microbubbles to develop ultrasound technology that could ride inside the ambulance and help medical staff diagnose patients onsite, potentially saving lives. “Anywhere blood flows, these microbubbles can travel,” he stated. “If you are in a car accident and you have internal bleeding, we could tell right away, identify what organs have been injured and where the blood is pooling. You could start these types of tests as soon as the ambulance shows up.”

EMTs could deliver microbubbles in the vein through a typical intravenous (IV) injection. The bubbles dissolve minutes after the test and the gas leave the body in the breath. Dr. Castle and a team of GRC scientists are already thinking about the next phase of research. They are investigating the use microbubbles as tiny missiles to transport antibodies, pharmaceuticals, and even DNA payload to tumors, clogged arteries, and whole organs such as the liver. When they reach the target, physicians could alter the acoustic setting of the ultrasound and burst the bubbles with sound waves. “You pop the bubble and the drug goes wherever you want it to go,” Dr. Castle said. “You could administer a fraction of a chemotherapy dose and reduce the side effects. It could have a huge potential for the quality of life of cancer patients.”

Dr. Castle is hoping that in the near future physicians could use microbubbles to image a patient’s heart and deliver anticlotting drugs at the same time. “Becoming an EMT as well as a biologist working to improve ultrasound gives you a chance to really see both fields,” he stated. “As an EMT you see the current standards of care, how things are done, and how they could be done better.”

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