A disposable MEMS-based micro-biopsy catheter for the minimally invasive tissue sampling

Abstract

This research has been supported by the Intelligent Microsystem Center(IMC; http://www.microsystem.re.kr), which carries out one of the 21st century's Frontier R&D Projects sponsored by the Korea Ministry Of Commerce, Industry and Energy. Abstract -This paper presents a novel minimally invasive MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System)-based micro-biopsy catheter for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal tissue samples. Conventional macro-scale biopsy tools such as biopsy forceps often cause a significant discomfort, infectous risk, and injury to the patients. In this study, a disposable micro-scale biopsy tool is proposed for the first time and MEMS technology is implemented for the fabrication process. Micro-biopsy catheter successfully extract tissue samples from the small intestines of the anesthetized rabbit and pig. The proposed micro biopsy catheter is found to be useful in minimally invasive diagnosis.Index Terms -catheter, tissue sampling, micro biopsy, minimally invasive diagnosis.

Design, Fabrication and Characterization of in-Plane Titanium Microneedles for Transdermal Drug Delivery

“…The longitudinal axes of the former are perpendicular to the substrate whose density can be much higher but the needle length is typically defined by etch or mold depth. Those of the latter are parallel to the substrate, whose length is due to the pattern design of microneedles and can be controlled optionally [5]. In this paper, in-plane titanium microneedles were developed combining laser micromachining and surface polishing.…”