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from the just-don't-needle-me-about-it dept.
It's only a matter of time before drugs are administered via patches with painless microneedles instead of unpleasant injections. But designers need to balance the need for flexible, comfortable-to-wear material with effective microneedle penetration of the skin. Swedish researchers say they may have cracked the problem.
In the recent volume of PLOS ONE, a research team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm reports a successful test of its microneedle patch, which combines stainless steel needles embedded in a soft polymer base – the first such combination believed to be scientifically studied. The soft material makes it comfortable to wear, while the stiff needles ensure reliable skin penetration.
Unlike epidermal patches, microneedles penetrate the upper layer of the skin, just enough to avoid touching the nerves. This enables delivery of drugs, extraction of physiological signals for fitness monitoring devices, extracting body fluids for real-time monitoring of glucose, pH level and other diagnostic markers, as well as skin treatments in cosmetics and bioelectric treatments.
Publication: DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166330
(Score: 3, Informative) by Chrontius on Tuesday December 13 2016, @05:25AM
PharmaJet sells their eponymous needle-free injector; unlike most, it's capable of giving intramuscular injections.
They fell out of use for a while after the pedo-pump proved to spray tissue fluid all over the front of the device, in such a way as to ensure that it would be injected into the next patient, without extensive cleaning. If you can't afford to autoclave the gun between patients, like when vaccinating an entire Army unit, disposable sharps are the way to go.
Now, though, needle-free injection devices rely upon disposable syringes and nozzles to avoid those cross-contamination issues. And unlike disposable sharps, there's nothing sharp, *and* the syringes are inherently self-disabling, simultaneously preventing reuse and needlestick injuries. If you're giving a lot of shots or taking a lot of shots, you might want to look into one of these things.
In your case, you may want to bring them to the attention of your doctor, who could sell the service as a value-add for his flu shot business in order to drum up business. Consumables are comparable to conventional needles, but the injector costs about a thousand bucks with the (necessary) spring-reset station.
No, I'm not an employee or salesman or anything, just a Star Trek fan. ;)