NEEDLE-LESS?

By David Bjerklie

Doctors will probably still find reasons to give injections, but a new drug-delivery system approved by the FDA could take the pain out of at least some of them. The device, called the SonoPrep, developed by researchers at M.I.T. and Israel's Ben-Gurion University, delivers medication through tiny pores in the skin. It uses ultrasound waves to create temporary microchannels in the skin through which drugs can pass. The device was approved as a way to anesthetize the skin with lidocaine cream to prepare patients, especially children, for painful procedures like the insertion of catheters and IV lines. But developers hope to use the same technology soon to deliver other kinds of medications. --By David Bjerklie