Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group

Microchemistry Implant Device

Reporter: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FACP

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/03/26/microchemistry-implant-device/

The world’s smallest implantable blood monitoring implant for early detection of acute coronary syndrome and other monitoring has been reported by the IFCC.

World’s smallest blood monitoring implant tells your smartphone when you’re about to have a heart attack

By John Hewitt on March 21, 2013
International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC)

In announcing  the world’s smallest medical implant to monitor critical chemicals in the blood, a 14mm device measures up to five indicators, including proteins like troponin, glucose, and lactate, scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a device that can measure and transmit the data to a smartphone for tracking.  It is powered by a 100 milliwatts patch that the device requires by wireless inductive charging through the skin. Each sensor is coated with an enzyme that reacts with blood-borne chemicals to generate a detectable signal. For patient monitoring, a device like this would quickly become indispensable once introduced, especially for continuous dosage monitoring. This would be partcularly useful when patient’s ability to break down and excrete the drug is compromized by either impaired functioning of  liver or kidney in drug elimination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DBa41wej-NE
To be fail-safe, this depends on the patient having access to their data. Dependence on the integrity of multiple weak links to the cloud, to the doctor, and back again — as is often the prescribed future care scenario — are unacceptable, particularly when heart attacks might be counted on to occur precisely at those times when those links may not be there. Assuming the battles for patient rights will be won sooner rather than later, the next important choice would be getting the proper ringtone when that fateful troponin call comes.
Ions and respiratory gases in the blood at different body locations can also be mapped. When coupled with powerful analysis packages, a device like this could help make the patient the customer once again. For now, the device is limited to the lifetime of the enzymes — typically after a month or two they can be considered expired.

http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EPFL-implant-300×264.jpg
As a final note, it should be observed that the EPFL device is not the only one on the horizon. Tricorder-style blood scanners are just beginning to gain a foothold in the medical community. A new $100 million research fund has just been announced by Blackberry mastermind Mike Lazaridis. The new fund is called Quantum Valley Investments, and is emphasizing all things quantum.

Related articles

• Small Blood Monitoring Implant Sends Information To User’s Smartphone Before a Heart Attack (mi021.wordpress.com)
• Your Phone’s Ringing – Because You’re Minutes from a Heart Attack (livescience.com)

Scheme of different terms surrounding myocardial infarction. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

typical changes in CK-MB and cardiac troponin in Acute Myocardial Infarction (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

myocardial infarction – Myokardinfarkt – scheme (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Phosphotungstic acid-haematoxylin staining demonstrating contraction band necrosis in an individual that had a myocardial infarction (heart attack). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)