If there’s anything researchers and scientists have been developing with advances in technology are for health purposes such as a faster way of detecting illnesses or injuries, especially those growing within the body.
In this case, a team of researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) have developed a new sensor they call “squishy” to aid in the detection and monitoring of head injuries and even cancer.
This sensor is minuscule akin to a grain of sand, is gel-based, and need only to be injected instead of going through the pain and process of an implant surgery. What’s more, it’s wireless so the subject can fully move about without disrupting routine.
Initially tested on rats and pigs, the sensor is capable of monitoring core health metrics namely temperature, pH, and pressure.
Co-author and biomedical engineer Yueying Yang discusses that their technology will be useful for people in the medical field. Scientists like Yang have long been studying and creating brain sensor implants mostly for medical needs and findings, but most devices developed need wires attached to the patient for data transmission.
Other than taking time to connect and detach these wires, doing so creates damages (such as holes) to the skin which could potentially allow viruses and bacteria to enter the patient.
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The innovation of Yang and team
Having a wireless sensor may still present some problems such as the limitations in communication; therefore, Yang and her colleagues created a 2-millimeter cube-shaped sensor with hydrogel.
Hydrogel is basically a soft and flexible material usually used in tissue regeneration and drug delivery. Now, these gel sensors could transform their size depending on the differences in temperature, pressure, and blood flow inside the brain.
After which, medical professionals can then use an ultrasound probe to scan the area and look into changes that occur when the ultrasound waves pass through the skull, sensing any reactions from the aforementioned health metrics.
Do the sensors lodge permanently in the brain?
No. In fact, the gel cubes dissolve in a period of four months, degrading in the brain in under five weeks.
Lab tests on the animals also prove that the sensors are quick to detect minute changes in pressure and temperature, perhaps better than conventional sensors.
Now, it is clearly not yet ready for testing on human subjects as there are still gaps where issues may arise such as where the by-products will end up when the sensors have broken down, on whether they might form in other areas of the body which could potentially disrupt how the other parts of our body function.
Of course, Yang says that they will continue to monitor and investigate their creation as well as continuously refine it to ensure a stable performance over long periods of time.
What’s your take on this this potential discovery in the medical setting? Let us know your thoughts.