Engineering and medical researchers in America have combined to create a new class of electronic sensors to monitor temperature and pressure within the skull then melt away when they are no longer needed, eliminating the need for additional surgery and reducing the risk of infection and haemorrhage.
John Rogers, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois teamed with Wilson Ray, Professor of Neurological Surgery at Washington University to develop the sensors.
Smaller than a grain of rice, they incorporate dissolvable silicon technology and are naturally biodegradable. After functioning normally for a few weeks, they dissolve away, completely and harmlessly, in the body’s own fluids.
The silicon platforms are sensitive to clinically relevant pressure levels in the intracranial fluid surrounding the brain and they 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
Rogers said traditional monitoring involves continuous, hard-wired access into the head which is bulky, invasive and the wires restrict the patent’s movement and hamper physical therapy as they recover.
“If you simply could throw out all the conventional hardware and replace it with very tiny, fully implantable sensors capable of the same function, constructed out of bioresorbable materials in a way that also eliminates or greatly miniaturises the wires, then you could remove a lot of the risk and achieve better patient outcomes,” he said.
”We were able to demonstrate all of these key features in animal models, with a measurement precision that’s just as good as that of conventional devices.”
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.”
Photo of tiny dissolvable sensor, courtesy University of Illinois.