The technology offers the potential for a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities with little patient discomfort.
It is likely that at your next visit to the doctor, a medical practitioner will start by taking your temperature. This has been part of medical practice for so long that we may see it as antiquated, with little value. However, the routine nature of the ritual belies the critical importance of obtaining accurate body temperature to assess the health of a patient. In fact, subtle variations in temperature can indicate potentially harmful underlying conditions such as constriction or dilation of blood vessels, or dehydration. Even changes in mental activity, such as increased concentration while solving a mathematical equation, are accompanied by measureable changes in body temperature.
Accordingly, a number of technologies have been developed to detect skin temperature changes that can serve as early indicators of disease development and progression. For example, sophisticated infrared digital cameras can detect, in high resolution, temperature changes across large areas of the body. At the other end of the technology spectrum, paste-on temperature sensors provide simple, single-point measurements. Although both technologies are accurate, infrared cameras are expensive and require the patient to remain completely still, and while paste-on sensors allow free movement, they provide limited information. Now, an international multidisciplinary team including researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has developed an entirely new approach: a sophisticated ”electronic skin” that adheres non-invasively to human skin, conforms well to contours, and provides a detailed temperature map of any surface of the body.
The temperature sensor array is a variation of a novel technology, originally developed in the lab of Professor John Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, called “epidermal electronics,” consisting of ultrathin, flexible skin-like arrays, which resemble a tattoo of a micro-circuit board. The arrays developed with NIBIB contain sensors and heating elements. The technology offers the potential for a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities with little patient discomfort. For example, sensors can be incorporated that detect different metabolites of interest. Similarly, the heaters can be used to deliver heat therapy to specific body regions; actuators can be added that deliver an electrical stimulus or even a specific drug. Future versions will have a wireless power coil and an antenna for remote data transfer. The development of this new thermal technology was reported in the October 23 issue of Nature Materials.
Testing the new device
In this study, the array contained heat sensors so that it could be tested for its ability to accurately detect variations in localized skin temperature when compared to the “gold standard,” the infrared camera. A number of separate physical and mental stimulus tests were performed to compare the two. The subject wore a heat sensing array on the palm and also had heat measurements obtained with an infrared camera placed 16 inches above the same region. The profiles of temperature changes were virtually identical with the two methods.
The investigators also performed a test that is used as a cardiovascular screening procedure. Blood flow changes are detected by changes in skin temperature as blood moves through the forearm while a blood pressure cuff on the upper arm is inflated and deflated. Once again, the infrared camera and the array technology showed virtually identical temperature change profiles. Temperature was reduced when blood flow was blocked and it increased as blood was released. Slow return of blood to the forearm can indicate potential cardiovascular abnormalities.
Beyond serving as a test to validate the accuracy of the skin array, this experiment demonstrated that the device could potentially be used as a rapid screening tool to determine whether an individual should be further tested for disorders, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease, that cause abnormal peripheral blood flow. It could also be a signal to doctors and patients about effects of certain medications.
The final experiment addressed a feature unique to the skin array technology: delivery of a stimulus, such as heat. The researchers sent precise pulses of heat to the skin to measure skin perspiration, which indicates a person’s overall hydration. Taken together, the test results demonstrated the ability of the array technology to obtain a range of accurate, clinically useful measurements, and deliver specific stimuli, with a single, convenient, and relatively inexpensive device.
Potential applications
The researchers say the current version of the array that senses and delivers heat only hints at the vast possibilities for this technology. For example, in theory, any type of sensors can be included, such as sensors that reveal glucose levels, blood oxygen content, blood cell counts, or levels of a circulating medication. Also, instead of delivering heat, an element could be included in the circuit that delivers a medication, an essential micro-nutrient, or various stimuli to promote rapid wound healing. This ability to sense and deliver a wide range of stimuli makes the system useful for diagnostic, therapeutic and experimental purposes.
The technology has the potential to carry out such therapeutic and diagnostic functions while patients go about their daily business, with the data being delivered remotely via a cell phone to a physician – saving the expense of obtaining the same diagnostic measurements, or performing the same therapeutic stimulus, in the clinic.
The Latest on: Continuous Patient Monitoring
- How to Monitor and Stay Safe in Extreme Heat, Using the CDC’s New HeatRisk Toolon April 26, 2024 at 6:13 am
More Americans die from heat than any other weather-related hazards. That’s why the CDC and NWS have rolled out tools to help people prepare for dangerous heat.
- Global Urine Output Monitoring Systems Market is Projected to Grow at a CAGR of ~5% by 2030 | DelveInsighton April 25, 2024 at 2:31 pm
DelveInsight's Urine Output Monitoring Systems Market Insights report provides the current and forecast market analysis, individual leading urine output monitoring systems companies' market shares, ...
- New system personalizes chemotherapy doses for cancer patientson April 24, 2024 at 10:50 pm
When cancer patients undergo chemotherapy, the dose of most drugs is calculated based on the patient's body surface area. This is estimated by plugging the patient's height and weight into an equation ...
- BioIntelliSense Announces Completion of Houston Methodist Inpatient Expansion of the BioButton® Continuous Patient Monitoring Solutionon April 24, 2024 at 4:10 am
BioIntelliSense, a continuous health monitoring and clinical intelligence company, announces completion of Houston Methodist's inpatient expansion of the BioButton ® continuous patient monitoring ...
- Updates in Managing Elderly Patients With Type 2 Diabeteson April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
A novelty in the SFD position statement concerns the introduction of continuous glucose monitoring. The objectives of this monitoring differ for elderly patients than for younger patients. Patients ...
- Dr Ronesh Sinha: Changing Cardiometabolic Health With Continuous Glucose Monitoringon April 19, 2024 at 8:30 am
In this interview, Ronesh Sinha, MD, explains how he's addressing the burden of cardiometabolic disease with the initiation of his continuous glucose monitor program at Sutter Health.
- The use of continuous glucose monitoring devices in non-diabetic adults … and other researchon April 18, 2024 at 7:01 am
Tom Nolan reviews this week’s research The market for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices now goes well beyond just being used for people with diabetes. They’re advertised as a means of ...
- Patient Monitoring Devices Market Worth $71.1 billion | MarketsandMarkets™on April 17, 2024 at 7:15 am
Patient Monitoring Devices Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $48.5 billion in 2024 and is poised to reach $71.1 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 8.0% from 2024 to 2029 ...
- GLUCOTRACK ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF ITS CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITORING TECHNOLOGY TO EPIDURAL GLUCOSE MONITORINGon April 16, 2024 at 6:20 am
Expansion offers the potential for continuous, discreet and simplified epidural glucose monitoring solutions for patients with Painful Diabetic ...
- Jayadev Memorial Hospital deploys Dozee’s AI patient monitoring systemon April 15, 2024 at 9:09 am
The technology has been adopted to enhance patient safety and clinical outcomes within the hospital’s non-ICU wards.
via Bing News
The Latest on: Electrospun medicines
- Feed has no items.
via Bing News