It looks like there has been yet another giant leap in the medical field, where brain monitoring chips will be able to dissolve the moment they have outlived their usefulness. Certainly such a feature would come in handy, especially when you take into consideration on just how much trouble that one needs to go through if one were to remove an implant after it has done its work from within. The reopening of an old surgery wound could prove to be traumatic, and it might even be more difficult to remove than to have it implanted in the first place. After all, the biggest danger of brain implants would be rejection.
As the clock winds down, one’s immune system would figure out that the brain implant is a foreign object that needs to be rejected, and this can lead to unwanted complications. Washington University’s’ researchers have come up with a very small (smaller than a pencil tip) wireless brain sensor that can dissolve once it is done with its task. This is made possible thanks to a clever mix of silicone and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), making it sophisticated enough to transmit vital data such as cranial pressure and temperature, and yet will dissolve within a few days’ time after exposure to typical organic matter.
It has not been tested out on humans yet, but that should not be too far down the road.
Filed in . Read more about Science. Source: medicine.wustl.edu