Latest research by IIT Bombay promises a painless syringe experience for all kinds of medical treatments

The latest innovation from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) promises a painless syringe experience for all types of medical procedures.  

Viren Menezes from the Department of Aerospace Engineering led the project, which developed a shock syringe to deliver medications without the use of needles.  The study was published in the journal Biomedical Materials and Devices.

Unlike needle-based syringes, the shock syringe does not pierce the skin with a sharp tip. Instead, it pierces the skin with high-energy pressure waves (shock waves), which can travel faster than sound. When these waves are formed, they compress the medium through which they travel, which could be air or liquid. A similar effect occurs during a sonic boom, in which an aircraft flies faster than the speed of sound, causing shock waves to push and agitate the air, as explained by Prof Menezes.

Pressurised nitrogen gas is delivered to the shock syringe, which serves as the driving section of the micro shock tube; it is filled with liquid pharmaceuticals to produce a microjet of the drug. The jet stream of liquid medication goes through the syringe's nozzle before piercing the skin. Prof Menezes emphasized that the entire process of administering medications using a shock syringe is quick and mild; most patients will not feel anything.