In recent times, significant research by University of California San Diego (UCSD) researchers has surfaced globally, which had been published on December 15, 2022 in Nature communications.
The new innovation possible through UCSD research is a wearable electronic patch, which monitors biomolecules in deep tissues.
Read the complete story to know more about the role of wearable technology in revolutionizing healthcare and the proceedings of the study.
Role of wearable technology
Wearable technology is revolutionizing healthcare by allowing for continuous monitoring of vital signs and activity levels, which can provide doctors and patients with valuable insights into a patient's health.
Wearable skin patches can be used to track and manage chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, and to provide reminders for taking medication or exercising.
Wearable patches with mechanical properties of the skin, can be worn for a period of time to provide continuous monitoring of hemoglobin levels.
Through these patches, hemoglobin levels can also be monitored to help diagnose and manage conditions such as anemia, which is characterized by a low level of hemoglobin in the blood.
The Study
According to the study, this wearable patch monitors hemoglobin levels in deep tissues that provide information on risk of chronic conditions such as malignant tumors, organ dysfunction, cerebral hemorrhages and many more.
In the words of Sheng XU, a professor of nanoengineering at UC San Diego, “The amount and location of hemoglobin in the body provide critical information about blood perfusion or accumulation in specific locations.
Low blood perfusion can lead to high risk of heart attacks, vascular diseases, and organ dysfunction whereas accumulation of blood in specific locations such as the brain, abdomen can cause cysts, tumors or cerebral hemorrhage.
Sheng says, “Our device shows great potential in close monitoring of high-risk groups, enabling timely interventions at urgent moments."
With abilities such as long-term deep tissue monitoring, this wearable patch technology can replace methods such as MRI and X-ray methods that were short-term and expensive diagnostic techniques.
According to Xiangjun Chen, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student in the Xu group and co-author of the study, wearable skin patches are essential in-patient care as “Continuous monitoring is critical for timely interventions to prevent life-threatening conditions from worsening quickly.”
The UCSD researchers developed soft and flexible wearable hemoglobin patches that can conveniently stick on the skin.
In Chen’s opinion, “Wearable devices based on electrochemistry for biomolecules detection, not limited to hemoglobin, are good candidates for long-term wearable monitoring applications. However, the existing technologies only achieve the ability of skin-surface detection.”
How does this unique wearable skin patch work?
These wearable skin patches are equipped with photoacoustic imaging that provides high resolution images of the internal organs with the integration of optical imaging and ultrasound.
Owing to this fact, this wearable skin patch can conduct three-dimensional mapping of biomolecules including hemoglobin, with a submillimeter spatial resolution in deep tissues.
The device is an integrated setup of 240 ultrasonic transducers and 24 high-intensity vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) diodes.
These components are located in an elastomeric polymer substrate.
The VCSEL diodes on the patch fire light pulses into the targeted tissue, this light energy is absorbed by the hemoglobin molecules which gets converted into heat.
This reaction generates acoustic waves, which are allocated to the piezoelectric transducers.
Received signals from the piezoelectric transducers are sent to a software which analyzes and reconstructs the location of the wave reciprocating biomolecules.
Future potential
The university researchers are now planning to develop the wearable skin patch and shrinking the backend controlling system.
Through this change, the device can become more portable which would help in effective working of the laser diodes and data acquisition.
The potential of this wearable skin patch is under exploration where it is being tested for expanding three-dimensional core temperature monitoring. According to Sheng Xu, this expansion currently requires "interventional calibration."
Moreover, wearable patch technology could modify healthcare monitoring and treatment practices, with increased connectivity in smart devices as well as precise data, which has altogether heightened the demand for wearable patches.
As per the report by BIS research, the global wearable patches market was valued at $8.65 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $26.89 billion by the end of 2031.The market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 11.06% during the forecast period 2022-2031.
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Conclusion
With this new wearable technology, taking a deep dive into monitoring and sensing deep tissues and biomolecules has become possible and convenient, when compared to conventional methods.
Wearable technology is developing and is expected to have significant applications in both research as well as clinical practices.
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