With subsidies from the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, a group of researchers led by Specially Appointed Professor NAKAJIMA Kiyokazu at the Global Center for Medical Engineering and Informatics, Osaka University and a group of researchers from Osaka-based Sanyo Co., Ltd., jointly developed cotton swabs with a reduced tip (3mm diameter), which are in high demand in laparoscopic surgery, marketing them as Dr. HUBY micro 3mm medical cotton swabs after receiving clinical evaluation. Conventional cotton swabs with a 5mm tip were produced by wrapping the end of the stick with a cotton rope, so it was thought to be technically impossible to reduce the size of a tip of the cotton swab.

Sanyo Co., Ltd. produces cotton swabs using their unique technology of spraying cotton powder to the end of the stick and give it a smooth shape. Using this technology, the research group led by Prof. Nakajima developed easy-to-use cotton swabs for laparoscopic surgery.

This cotton swab production method has enabled the group to reduce the size of the tip and design its irregular shape as shown in the photo below. Cotton swabs with a miniaturized tip are anticipated to have many advantages, such as leaving patients with no visible scars, not hindering the view of surgical staff, and enabling their detailed work.

It was confirmed that elution from this cotton swab was down more than 1,000 times by a particle counter. Less elution of foreign substances into body fluids will reduce the risk of infection.