Medical Design Briefs - January 2023 - 31

This new simplicity also extends beyond
the design of wearables to their manufacturing.
First, solid-state lithium microbatteries
can be assembled onto PCBs using
surface mount technology (SMT) with a
low temperature (up to +160 °C) reflow
profile. This is because the absence of a
traditional lithium anode, especially in
the solid-date lithium microbattery's
as-manufactured or
substantially
discharged
state, means that there is no
chance of lithium reacting to high SMT
oven temperatures during assembly. Second,
the microbattery's stacked and encapsulated
unit cells can be metallized at
the side ends to create the electrical terminations
needed for direct PCB connection.
This eliminates the cost of coin cell
socket and manual assembly or soldering
required by Li-ion microbatteries.
Rechargeable solid-state lithium microbattery
technology may one day also
power wireless health monitoring devices
such as continuous glucose monitors
(CGMs), which currently use disposable
primary batteries, that must be replaced
and discarded about every ten (10) days.
The technology may also benefit implantable
devices like cochlear acoustic
amplification solutions, pacemakers,
and neurostimulators. In the meantime,
the technology is poised to help
unlock innovation in the design of
health, fitness and hearing-assistance
wearables by enabling slimmer and
more ergonomic form factors that are
more comfortable for users and have
slicker industrial designs while enabling
more features and capabilities and longer
operating times.
This article was written by Vijay Parmar,
Vice President, Marketing, Ensurge
Micropower, San Jose, CA. For more information,
visit www.ensurge.com. Contact:
vijay.parmar@ensurge.com.
Smart Wearable Sensors for Parkinson's Disease
The at-home device that
aims to monitor the
primary signs of
Parkinson's Disease.
Harvard Wyss Institute
Boston, MA
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the fastest-growing
neurodegenerative condition
in the world, second only to Alzheimer's,
and affects 600,000 Americans
every year at a cost of $20 billion to the
U.S. healthcare system. PD's symptoms
and signs can vary dramatically between
patients, and as a result, there is no one
standard test or biomarker that can diagnose
or track the progression of the
disease.
When a doctor examines a patient
with PD, they assess the presence of
three neurological signs: slowed movements
(bradykinesia), tremor and muscle
rigidity (stiffness) - the presence of
at least two of the three is required for a
positive diagnosis. These examinations
are subjective and imprecise, making it
challenging to diagnose and monitor
the disease, especially in the early stages
when symptoms are mild.
Several commercial products have
emerged over the past two decades attempting
to meet the need for objective
PD symptom detection and monitoring,
but most of these products depend on
inertial measurement technologies (the
kind used in smartphones to detect their
orientation) to detect the movement of
an individual. These systems can moniMedical
Design Briefs, January 2023
An at-home device that aims to monitor the primary signs of Parkinson's Disease to improve diagnosis,
treatment, and drug development. (Credit: Harvard Wyss Institute)
tor bradykinesia and tremor but not
muscle rigidity, which is present in more
than 90 percent of patients with PD.
n Solution
Members of the Harvard Biodesign and
Microrobotics Labs, led by Wyss Associate
Faculty members Conor Walsh, PhD and
Rob Wood, PhD, are developing a clothingbased
system with integrated novel wearable
strain sensor technology to accurately
detect and monitor muscle rigidity in patients
with Parkinson's disease in real time,
and eventually all three primary neurological
signs of the disease.
The soft wearable system is musclecentric
compared to the inertia-based
sensor systems currently on the market
and is designed to be comfortable enough
to be worn by a patient all day. The sensors
detect distinct physiological patterns
in the patient's muscles multiple times
throughout the day, which can produce
much more information about a patient's
condition than the current clinical paradigm
of a brief checkup a few times a
year. This will allow healthcare providers
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
MyoExo integrates a series of sensors into a
wearable device capable of detecting slight
changes in muscle strain and bulging, enabling
it
to measure and track the symptoms of Parkinson's
disease. (Credit: Seun Araromi)
to more effectively manage the disease
and make adjustments to treatment. It
could also potentially help detect the disease
much earlier.
The device can be used without the assistance
of a medical specialist, enabling
a telehealth approach to treatment and
reducing the cost to healthcare payers
31

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Medical Design Briefs - January 2023

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