The "smart" patch not only monitors the patient's current condition, but can independently supply the required amount of medicine to his body.
Specialists from Seoul National University (South Korea), together with colleagues from the University of Texas at Austin (USA), have created a "smart" patch that is not only able to monitor the patient's current condition, but can independently supply the required amount of medicine to his body.
The patch, designed for the safety of patients who, for example, may forget to take the necessary pill, is able to inject the drug into the human body in certain portions, and also, if necessary, stop its supply (for example, if the concentration of the drug in the body has reached an optimal level).
The "smart" patch in the form of a rectangle is only 4 cm long, 2 cm wide and 0, 003 mm thick. It consists of a stretchable material containing special silica nanoparticles that react to the muscle activity and warmth of human skin and release therapeutic agents based on the patient's body temperature.
The development can be used by patients in whom one of the main symptoms is movement disorder. First of all, it is the perfect solution for people with Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's disease is a slowly progressive chronic neurological disease that is characteristic of people in the older age group. Refers to degenerative diseases of the extrapyramidal motor system. It is caused by the progressive destruction and death of neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine - primarily in the substantia nigra, as well as in other parts of the central nervous system. Insufficient dopamine production leads to an activating effect of the basal ganglia on the cerebral cortex
The patch for seizures begins to release a small amount of the medication it contains. The drug is suspended when the patient's seizures stop.
Many patients are very interested in having a controlled way of delivering the medicine to the body. In the future, we plan to add a wireless communication function to our invention, which will allow doctors to remotely monitor the condition of patients and increase or decrease the dose of drugs.
? Dai-Hyeong Kim, Bioengineer, Seoul State University
These patches are expected to be commercially available in five years.
It should be noted that this is far from the first attempt to create the most compact device that would itself monitor the state of a person and treat him. For example, several years ago, specialists at the University of Illinois at Urbana and Champaign (USA) created an epidermal microelectronic device. And last year, scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) presented a tattoo vaccine that absorbs in the skin for a long time, which manages to teach the immune system which virus to fight.