A fully implantable wireless glucose sensor

Priority:
No

Diabetes is a condition that requires strict monitoring of blood glucose levels to avoid hyper- or hypoglycemic health complications. Currently, 25.8 million people have diabetes in the United States and account for $174 billion in healthcare costs annually. Medical researchers studying diabetes must frequently monitor their subjects’ glucose levels continuously in this highly active research area. Current invasive measurement methods add variation into experiments, complicating chronic studies. A new design consisting of a fully implanted device was developed and tested. It is designed to utilize an amperometric (current-sensing) glucose transducer to detect in-vivo glucose levels, convert this signal to a corresponding digital output, wirelessly transmit the output to a computer, and operate completely on wireless power. The device is able to interface with an H2O2 sensor amperometrically, can measure 0-1 mA and detect changes as small as 2.5 μA. The implant will allow noninvasive continuous glucose measurements in animal subjects, allowing more extensive medical studies on the effects of glucose concentrations in various organ groups and metabolic pathways. Following animal testing, this device could be applied to a clinical setting and be used by patients with diabetes, replacing inconvenient blood samples.