A Wireless Implant for Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders

Abstract

Implantable functional electrical stimulation (IFES) has demonstrated its effectiveness as an alternative treatment option for diseases incurable pharmaceutically (e.g., retinal prosthesis, cochlear implant, spinal cord implant for pain relief). However, the development of IFES for gastrointestinal (GI) tract modulation is still limited due to the poorly understood GI neural network (gut–brain axis) and the fundamental difference among activating/monitoring smooth muscles, skeletal muscles and neurons. This inevitably imposes different design specifications for GI implants. This paper thus addresses the design requirements for an implant to treat GI dysmotility and presents a miniaturized wireless implant capable of modulating and recording GI motility. This implant incorporates a custom-made system-on-a-chip (SoC) and a heterogeneous system-in-a-package (SiP) for device miniaturization and integration. An in vivo experiment using both rodent and porcine models is further conducted to validate the effectiveness of the implant.

The effect of colonic tissue electrical stimulation and celiac branch of the abdominal vagus nerve neuromodulation on colonic motility in anesthetized pigs

“…Planar electrode arrays were placed onto the serosal surface of the colonic region of interest (pC, tC or dC) for stimulation as described in previous studies (Figure 1B,C). 58,60 The electrodes were positioned to lie on the serosal side of the first 3 luminally placed pressure sensors (10‐16 cm). A baseline was established for a period of 30 min, and stimulation was initiated using the customized stimulation device 59,60 .…”

“…A baseline was established for a period of 30 min, and stimulation was initiated using the customized stimulation device. 59,60 Two stimulation electrodes, configurated as bipolar pair and (1. 58,60 to cause contractions or stimulate propulsion.…”

Robotic Setup Promises Consistent Effects of Multilocular Gastrointestinal Electrical Stimulation: First Results of a Porcine Study

“…During the ES in the robotic experiments, we applied pulse widths of 800 μs instead of 1,000 μs and frequencies of 125 Hz instead of 130 Hz. All applied ES parameters were in the range of the available literature and the pulse width was, comparably, very low [5, 9, 11-13, 15, 16, 32, 33].…”

“…Furthermore, a first individual motility evaluation would take place in a more physiological environment. Together with recent advances in wireless GI device developments [33, 35, 36], even the scenario of robotic placement of multiple theranostic devices distributed along the GI tract appears reasonable.…”

Editorial for the Special Issue on Wireless Microdevices and Systems for Biomedical Applications

“…Kargaran et al [1] proposes a new ultra-low-voltage ultra-low-power LNA, where the reduced current consumption of only 160 μA, on a supply as low as 0.18 V, has potential to enable future RF receivers for ultra-low-power implantable devices. Lo et al [2] presents an implantable functional electrical stimulation (IFES) for gastrointestinal (GI) tract modulation to treat GI dysmotility. They present a miniaturized wireless implant capable of modulating and recording GI motility.…”