Implantable Microdevices - Introduction to BioMEMS - page 417

8.6 Summary
Compared with other microsystems, implantable microsystems have always faced the most dif-
icult challenges in the BioMEMS ield. he sample from which the microsystems are extract-
ing a measurement (the individual) has a virtually unknown substrate, and repetition of the
measurement is oten unacceptably painful or too unreliable because of anatomical and physi-
ological imprecision. A daunting amount of paperwork is usually required to make sure all the
ethical guidelines are being followed before implantation. As a result, experiments have typi-
cally been sketchy or have taken years to produce conclusive results: the ield has been progress-
ing very slowly. Yet, this is the part of the ield that the public is most excited about, so scientists
are persevering: Who does not dream of a deep-brain microstimulator that one day might be the
routine cure for Parkinson's disease, just as pacemakers are routinely implanted to treat heart
arrhythmias nowadays? Or a wireless micro-ECoG electrode grid that cures infant epilepsy? Or
a pill the size of a grain of rice that reports to your doctor your internal constants, including
temperature and pH, while it travels through your intestines and you are at work?
I am certain that in a few years, microfabrication technology will be ubiquitous in almost
every medical device because there are vast beneits, with little incremental cost per device,
derived from miniaturization. We are only limited by our own imagination.
Further Reading
Ainslie, Kristy M., and Desai, Tejal A. “Microfabricated implants for applications in therapeutic delivery,
tissue engineering, and biosensing,” Lab on a Chip 8 , 1864-1878 (2008).
Cheung, K. C. “Implantable microscale neural interfaces,” Biomedical Microdevices , 9 , 923-938 (2007).
Desai, Tejal and Bhatia, Sangeeta (editors). “herapeutic micro/nanotechnology,” in BioMEMS and Bio-
medical Nanotechnology Series (Vol. III), Springer (2006).
Kipke, D. R., W. Shain, G. Buzsaki, E. Fetz, J. M. Henderson, J. F. Hetke, and G. Schalk. “Advanced neuro-
technologies for chronic neural interfaces: new horizons and clinical opportunities,” Journal of
Neuroscience 28 , 11830-11838 (2008).
Vandervoort, J., and A. Ludwig. “Micro-needles for transdermal drug delivery: a minireview,” Frontiers in
Bioscience 13 , 1711-1715 (2008).
Wang, Wanjun, and Soper, Steven A. (editors). Bio-MEMS: Technologies and Applications , CRC Press (2007).
Wise, K. “Integrated sensors, MEMS and microsystems: relections on a fantastic voyage,” Sensors and
Actuators. A, Physical 36 , 39-50 (2007).
Zhou, David, and Greenbaum, Elias (editors). Implantable Neural Prosthesis 1: Devices and Applications ,”
Springer (2009).
Zhou, David, and Greenbaum, Elias (editors). Implantable Neural Prosthesis 2: Techniques and Engineering
Approaches , Springer (2009).