Zhenan Bao and colleagues have developed a wireless, battery-free, biodegradable sensor to provide continuous monitoring of blood flow through an artery. This could provide critical information to doctors after vascular, transplant, reconstructive and cardiac surgery, with out the need for a visit.
Monitoring the success of surgery on blood vessels is difficult, as by the time a problem is detected, additional surgery is usually required. The goal of the sensor is much earlier intervention.
The sensor wraps around the healing vessel, where blood pulsing past pushes on its inner surface. As the shape of that surface changes, it alters the sensor’s capacity to store electric charge, which doctors can detect remotely from a device located near the skin but outside the body. That device solicits a reading by pinging the antenna of the sensor, similar to an ID card scanner. In the future, this device could come in the form of a stick-on patch or be integrated into other technology, like a wearable device or smartphone.
Join ApplySci at the 10th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Silicon Valley conference on February 21-22 at Stanford University — Featuring: Zhenan Bao – Christof Koch – Vinod Khosla – Walter Greenleaf – Nathan Intrator – John Mattison – David Eagleman – Unity Stoakes – Shahin Farshchi – Emmanuel Mignot – Michael Snyder – Joe Wang – Josh Duyan – Aviad Hai – Anne Andrews – Tan Le – Anima Anandkumar – Pierrick Arnal – Shea Balish – Kareem Ayyad – Mehran Talebinejad – Liam Kaufman – Scott Barclay – Tracy Laabs – George Kouvas