Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2021 - 45

the disease across the validation datasets. When this PPG-derived prediction
was combined with other easily obtainable patient information - such as age,
gender, body mass index, and race/ethnicity - predictive performance improved further.

At this level of predictive performance,
the algorithm could serve a similar role to
other widespread disease screening tools
to reach a much broader group of people, followed by a physician's confirmation of the diabetes diagnosis and a treatment plan. The algorithm's performance

is comparable to other commonly used
tests, such as mammography for breast
cancer or cervical cytology for cervical
cancer, and its painlessness makes it
attractive for repeated testing.
For more information, contact Scott Maier
at scott.maier@ucsf.edu; 415-476-3595.

Surgical Tools with Smart Sensors Can Advance Cardiac
Surgery and Therapy
Medical instruments equipped with a soft electronics system improve diagnostic and
therapeutic interventions in minimally invasive surgeries.
The George Washington University, Washington, DC

any minimally invasive surgeries
rely on catheters inserted into the
body through small incisions to conduct
diagnostic measurements and therapeutic interventions. Physicians, for example,
use this catheter-based approach to map
and treat irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias) often by locating and killing or
ablating the cardiac tissue area that is
causing the arrhythmias.
Though widely used in surgery, the current catheter-based approach has a number of drawbacks. The rigidity of today's
catheter devices means they do not conform well to soft, biological tissues, impacting high-fidelity mapping of an organ's
electrophysiological signals. Current devices make contact with only a small part of
an organ at a time, making it necessary to
constantly move a probe around, lengthening medical procedures. Current
catheter systems are also limited in the
number of functions they can perform,
requiring physicians to use multiple
catheters in a single ablation procedure.
Additionally, long procedures - for
example, to locate and ablate tissues caus-

A conformal array of electrodes affixed to an
inflated balloon catheter.

ing arrhythmias - risk exposing both
patient and physician to potentially damaging X-rays, as physicians rely on X-ray
images during the course of the surgery to
guide their catheters. To address these
problems, researchers developed a new
class of medical instruments equipped
with an advanced soft electronics system
that could dramatically improve the diagnoses and treatments of a number of cardiac diseases and conditions.
Researchers applied stretchable and
flexible matrices of electrode sensors and
actuators, along with temperature and

pressure sensors, to a balloon catheter system often used in minimally invasive surgeries or ablations to treat conditions such
as heart arrhythmias.
The new system, which conforms better
to the body's soft tissue than current
devices, can perform a variety of functions
including simultaneous in vivo measurements of temperature, force of contact,
and electrophysiological parameters; the
ability to customize diagnostic and therapeutic functions; and real-time feedback.
The new system can also dramatically
reduce the length of invasive ablation procedures and exposure of patients and doctors to X-ray radiation.
The new class of instruments will allow
physicians to acquire a rich set of electrophysiological information and to complete surgeries in shorter times with a single instrumented catheter system. By outfitting a balloon catheter with advanced
organ conformal electronic components,
sensors, and actuators, the researchers
overcame the flaws of current systems.
For more information, contact gwmedia@
gwu.edu; 202-994-6460.

Active Photonic Wireless System Powers Medical Implants
The device recharges the internal battery of implants without invasive surgery.
Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korea

edical implants such as pacemakers
serve various functions in patients
and help to improve their quality of life.
But to power these devices, re-implants and
invasive surgery are often required, which
may lead to a risk of surgical complications.
In search of a more permanent solution,
researchers developed a photonic device
that reduces the need for re-implants.

Over the past few decades, medical
technology has seen various advances in
terms of the scope and efficiency of
implanted devices; for example, developments in medical research have led to
the emergence of electronic implants
such as pacemakers to regulate the heart
rate and cerebral spinal shunts to control the flow of spinal fluid. Most of these

Tech Briefs, April 2021

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medical devices, including the pacemaker, require a constant source of
energy to operate. This causes some limitations. Batteries, which provide an
energy source for the implants, have a
finite lifespan. Once the battery power
gets exhausted, there is no other option
but to perform invasive surgery to
replace the battery, which poses a risk of
45

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Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2021

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