Ethan Tumarkin combined his interest in research and clinical care to develop new cardiac imaging techniques.
Tumarkin received a Ph.D. in chemistry before he pursued a medical degree. Now, as a recent hire at the University of Utah, he is continuing his research into better methods to conduct cardiac ultrasounds that he started at his previous institution.
Early on in his cardiology training, Tumarkin saw a patient who needed a transesophageal echocardiogram—an ultrasound of the heart taken by putting an ultrasound probe through the mouth and down the food pipe or esophagus. However, to do this procedure, a patient needs to be sedated, but this particular patient was too sick to be sedated.
“So, I thought, ‘Could we do this in a way that we don't sedate a patient?’” Tumarkin said. “A lot of times our research is driven by experience.”
Tumarkin is developing a method that eliminates the need for sedation by inserting the probe down the nose instead of the mouth. The idea came from feeding tubes that are placed in a similar way.
Eliminating sedation helps more than just patients like the one Tumarkin saw, expanding the impact of the new technology to a broader population.
A lot of times our research is driven by experience.
This new technology benefits more than just patients like the one Tumarkin saw early in his training. Eliminating sedation makes the procedure safer, faster and more economical. When patients need to be sedated, they have to come in early to prepare and then stay later while the sedation wears off, and they also need to arrange a ride to and from the appointment because they can’t drive after sedation. On top of that, sedation adds extra costs to both the patient and the hospital because of the medications and personnel required for the procedure.
Tumarkin developed this technology at his previous institution where he also applied for a patent with its technology transfer office. Moving to the University of Utah meant he would need to put everything in place with both the previous institution and the U so he could keep pursuing his research.
Tumarkin was incredibly proactive and reached out to the Technology License Office early in the process. It also helped that his previous institution was on board with the process.
“They were very good about sharing. They just wanted this technology developed so they don't care if I work with the U or if I work with somebody else,” Tumarkin said.
Now, Tumarkin is working to build on his research and add to the intellectual property portfolio at the U. “The Technology Licensing Office has been very good from the get-go about offering to do an analysis on any new ideas I’ve had.”