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NEWS
Medical breakthrough: wireless "bio-chip" sensor implants
From "Cardiologist's 'Living Chip' Changes Science of Disease Monitoring, University of Rochester Medical Center press release, 15 September 2006:
"For patients living with heart failure and other health conditions, blood draws and diagnostic tests are commonplace in order to evaluate their condition. Often, though, chemical or physiologic changes silently cause damage that is not detected until much later.
"But what if in the future a tiny device... could be implanted in the patient to monitor and detect abnormalities, and could then relay data to physicians, or provide therapy on the spot, in real time?
"It may sound like science fiction, but this concept is moving toward reality at Physiologic Communications LLC, a biotech company founded by University of Rochester Medical Center cardiologist Spencer Rosero, M.D., who specializes in heart rhythm disorders. The company is developing implantable biosensors - integrating living cells with electronics - to create a 'biological chip.' When implanted, this chip can detect physiologic and chemical changes with faster, improved accuracy. These more accurate results, retrieved without invasive testing, will allow for better and timely response and, the hope is, a healthier patient.
How it works
"Ultimately, cells specific to the patient can be engineered to live on and function as part of the miniature electronic chip. The wireless biosensor is placed within and around blood vessels and nerves to provide detection and stimulation of the surrounding tissues or organ systems, with the ability to detect changes. A change triggers a message to a wireless device to alert the patient early on about a problem. The patient can then contact their physician.
"For a patient with heart failure, for example, the biosensor could detect a change in blood protein levels at an early stage, prompting the physician to alter medications to correct the problem. Currently, without blood work being done, the patient or physician would not suspect an issue until the patient began having symptoms or underwent pre-scheduled testing at a routine visit. Catching the problem earlier means the patient remains healthier, and greatly lessens the chance of a hospital stay.
"The initial application for this technology is expected to involve pharmaceutical companies, which could use the biological chips to test potential drugs in the lab more quickly and accurately. In later generations, the chip ultimately could command implanted devices - for example, a wireless defibrillator/pacemaker or an insulin pump - to take action to correct a detected abnormality. The device would communicate with the living chip in real time, making adjustments as a direct result of the chip's ability to detect changes...
" '21st Century medicine recognizes that individual patients respond differently to diagnostic and therapeutic interventions,' Rosero said. 'The key to personalizing an individual's care is to improve the manner in which one can detect abnormalities in chemical signals or physiologic activity in real-time using technology that is minimally invasive. We are on the road to doing this... We believe this technology will change the face of medical monitoring and, ultimately, device therapy for many types of patients,' Rosero said...
" 'This type of product is referred to as a "disruptive technology," ' said John Fahner-Vihtelic, deputy director of the Office of Technology Transfer. 'It has the potential to change the way things currently are being done. When this chip is fully developed, it will impact the way patients are monitored, and the way they receive therapy. It will supercede what is already out there...' "
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[Wireless Sensors: 22 September 2006]