Hydrogel sensor implanted to measure blood glucose levels

Do you get all queasy whenever you need to measure your blood glucose levels, or are you numb to having needle after needle being pricked into your arm as a battery of tests are carried out? Well, perhaps there is no more need to see another needle in your lifetime if this research group from Japan got their alternate solution to measuring blood glucose levels working right – basically, they intend to develop a sensor which can be implanted in your body, where its color will automatically change to reflect the current blood glucose level. Originally tested in a mouse’s ear for four months, it has proved to be quite the success – but bear in mind the readings that the Hydrogel sensor gets are more or less estimates and will not be as accurate as an actual test.

Perhaps if you are going to have someone implant something into your body, it had better be worth your while – so it would be nice to see that this Hydrogel sensor work far more wonders than just getting a blood glucose level reading. It will still be a long time in coming though as researchers claim that there are tons of problems which need to be solved before one can actually implant a fiber-shaped sensor inside a human body.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Medical
Tags: sensor