Sensor-sational breakthrough
MIT tool diagnoses, treats from within
An implantable device the size of a grain of rice could one day diagnose disease, administer medication and even treat brain conditions like Parkinson’s.
The tool, developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is controlled by radio frequency waves and has been successfully tested on pigs.
“The most exciting thing is that we can wirelessly control tiny implants even though they have no batteries at all,” said Fadel Adib, assistant professor at the MIT Media Lab and senior author of the paper, which will be presented at a conference in August. “The implications are enormous. You can envision a future in which many of us have sensors in the body that are monitoring our conditions.”
Researchers showed they could send power from up to a meter outside the body, and up to 38 meters away if the sensor is close to the skin’s surface.
Radio waves are generally too weak to pass through the body. But scientists use a system called “in vivo networking” — which produces several different waves that reach their peak effectiveness when they overlap.
Because the device does not rely on batteries for power, future versions can be even tinier, Adib said.
“The battery is the largest part of any sensor,” he said. “We envision being able to put them in a bloodstream to detect blood clots.”
One potential use could be controlled release of medication for people like Alzheimer’s patients, who have difficulty remembering to take their pills, said Dr. Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer at Brigham and Women’s who is helping to develop the technology.
It could also be used for deep brain stimulation — often used to treat Parkinson’s and epilepsy.
The current version of the technique requires the implant of a pacemaker under the skin, which would not be necessary with this device.
Existing sensors that rely on batteries carry health risks, like tearing in the GI tract, which can be a medical emergency in kids, Traverso said.
“It goes back to the ability to eliminate and remove batteries,” he said. “It gives you significantly greater space. If we’re able to use that space for either other sensors or house even more of a drug, it expands the opportunities.”