U.S. scientists devised a new way to provide drugs for pain relief
the technique, which requires no needles, could improve the lives of millions of people suffering from chronic pain or disorders that require powerful painkillers to be injected for long periods.

The strategy, designed by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston, magnetism combines with nanotechnology.

This requires a small device that is implanted in the patient of just over 1 inch in diameter, says research published in the journal Nano Letters.
Smart Nanoparticles

“The device is specially created a membrane on which they are embedded nanoparticles (structures of the one hundred thousandth of the thickness of a human hair) in a gel composed of magnetite, an iron ore with natural magnetic properties,” he told the BBC: Dr. Daniel Kohane, who led the research.

“When outside the body turns on a magnetic field near the device, the nanoparticles are heated causing it to shrink and this in turn causes the opening of small spaces, neck, and allowing movement of nanogel from one side to another” says the scientist.

During this process, when the pores are open the drug can leave the membrane and enter the body.

When the magnetic force is turned off, the membrane is cooled and the gels were again closing the pores expand to its original state and stopping the supply of the drug.

“Basically, this means we can turn on and off the flow of the drug as needed and also can precisely modulate the amount of drug needed for the patient,” explains Dr. Kohane.

Dr. Kohane and his team are still perfecting the clinical use of the device, but once you are ready could be a useful tool for the treatment of cancer patients requiring injected medication whose dose must be intermittent.

Or it could be used in patients requiring long-term drug taking.

“For example,” says Dr. Kohane-a patient with chronic pain or someone who has just had surgery, this therapy can decide when you need pain relief and for how long. “

“You can decide how intense should be the treatment. And in theory, we also believe that nanoparticles could have long term effects.

“This could be helpful for chronic pain sufferers because it would ease their pain without having to take narcotics they cloud the mind,” says the researcher.