Tiny Electronic Implants Monitor Brain Injury, Then Melt Away

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Rogers' group teamed with Illinois materials science and engineering professor Paul V. Braun to make the silicon platforms sensitive to clinically relevant pressure levels in the intracranial fluid surrounding the brain. They also added a tiny temperature sensor and connected it to a wireless transmitter roughly the size of a postage stamp, implanted under the skin but on top of the skull.

The Illinois group worked with clinical experts in traumatic brain injury at Washington University to implant the sensors in rats, testing for performance and biocompatibility. They found that the temperature and pressure readings from the dissolvable sensors matched conventional monitoring devices for accuracy.

"The ultimate strategy is to have a device that you can place in the brain - or in other organs in the body - that is entirely implanted, intimately connected with the organ you want to monitor and can transmit signals wirelessly to provide information on the health of that organ, allowing doctors to intervene if necessary to prevent bigger problems," said Rory Murphy, a neurosurgeon at Washington University and co-author of the paper. "After the critical period that you actually want to monitor, it will dissolve away and disappear."

The researchers are moving toward human trials for this technology, as well as extending its functionality for other biomedical applications.

"We have established a range of device variations, materials and measurement capabilities for sensing in other clinical contexts," Rogers said. "In the near future, we believe that it will be possible to embed therapeutic function, such as electrical stimulation or drug delivery, into the same systems while retaining the essential bioresorbable character."

• < Previous Page