A Temporary Pacemaker Talks to Wearable Sensors via a Body-Area Network, and Dissolves When Finished

Researchers at Northwestern University and George Washington University have followed up an earlier effort to create a transient pacemaker, which can be absorbed by the body when it's no longer required with a new, smarter version — capable of communicating via a body-area sensor and control network.

The research team unveiled the original transient pacemaker design in June last year. "Hardware placed in or near the heart creates risks for infection and other complications," explained John Rogers of the team's work at the time. "Our wireless, transient pacemakers overcome key disadvantages of traditional temporary devices by eliminating the need for percutaneous leads for surgical extraction procedures — thereby offering the potential for reduced costs and improved outcomes in patient care. This unusual type of device could represent the future of temporary pacing technology."

Now, the team is back with a revised design — and it's considerably smarter, capable of communicating with a coordinated network of wearable sensors and control units placed around the patient to form a "body-area network" capable of tracking temperature, oxygen levels, respiration rate, muscle tone, physical activity, and the heart's electrical activity, and informing the operation of the pacemaker accordingly.

"This marks the first time we have paired soft, wearable electronics with transient electronic platforms," Rogers claims of the new iteration. "This approach could change the way patients receive care providing multimodal, closed-loop control over essential physiological processes — through a wireless network of sensors and stimulators that operates in a manner inspired by the complex, biological feedback loops that control behaviors in living organisms."

"For temporary cardiac pacing," Rogers continues, "the system untethers patients from monitoring and stimulation apparatuses that keep them confined to a hospital setting. Instead, patients could recover in the comfort of their own homes while maintaining the peace of mind that comes with being remotely monitored by their physicians. This also would reduce the cost of health care and free up hospital beds for other patients."

The battery-free pacemaker itself is attached to the heart through surgery; the wearable sensors, and a multi-haptic feedback module designed to allow the network to communicate with the patient, are simply applied to the patient's skin. When the devices are no longer required, the external sensors are peeled off while the pacemaker dissolves safely within the body — avoiding the need for surgery to remove it.

"The pacing system is completely autonomous," explains Yeon Sik Choi, postdoctoral fellow in Rogers' lab and co-first author of the paper describing the new devices ."It can automatically detect a disease and apply treatment. It’s easy and self-contained with minimal external needs."

The team's work has been published under closed-access terms in the journal Science.