Wearable Intracranial Pressure Monitoring Sensor for Infants

Abstract

Monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) is important for patients at risk of raised ICP, which may indicate developing diseases in brains that can lead to brain damage or even death. Monitoring ICP can be invaluable in the management of patients suffering from brain injury or hydrocephalus. To date, invasive measurements are still the standard method for monitoring ICP; however, these methods can not only cause bleeding or infection but are also very inconvenient to use, particularly for infants. Currently, none of the non-invasive methods can provide sufficient accuracy and ease of use while allowing continuous monitoring in routine clinical use at low cost. Here, we have developed a wearable, non-invasive ICP sensor that can be used like a band-aid. For the fabrication of the ICP sensor, a novel freeze casting method was developed to encapsulate the liquid metal microstructures within thin and flexible polymers. The final thickness of the ICP sensor demonstrated is 500 µm and can be further reduced. Three different designs of ICP sensors were tested under various pressure actuation conditions as well as different temperature environments, where the measured pressure changes were stable with the largest stability coefficient of variation being only CV = 0.0206. In addition, the sensor output values showed an extremely high linear correlation (R2 > 0.9990) with the applied pressures.

In Situ Polymer-Solution-Processed Graphene–PDMS Nanocomposites for Application in Intracranial Pressure Sensors

“…Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been utilized in a wide range of biomedical applications, e.g., microfluidic devices [ 7 ], the fabrication of biomodels in disease research [ 8 ], and medical implants [ 9 ], because of its superb biocompatibility, excellent thermal stability [ 10 ], and cost effectiveness [ 11 ]. PDMS is also adopted as the encapsulation material in the ICP monitoring industry to reduce the thickness of conventional ICP monitoring sensors to 500 [ 12 ]. Therefore, PDMS is a promising candidate for fabricating flexible sensors positioned in the epidural space.…”

Non-Invasive Intracranial Pressure Monitoring

“…Currently, standard ICP probes can be fixed epicutaneously on the skin over the frontal fontanelle and can reliably measure ICP values [ 115 , 116 ]. In 2021, a new bandage-like sensor was introduced, with an excellent correlation between the measured values and the real ICP (r 2 > 0.9990) [ 117 ].…”

Applications of flexible electronics related to cardiocerebral vascular system

“… Infection, stroke, tumor, hydrocephalus, epilepsy, etc. [ 302 , 303 , 307 , 308 , 309 , 310 , [305] , [311] , [312] , 313 ] CBF Intracranial, head surface, etc. Thermistor, optical, etc.…”