Elastic glue monitor that sends long-term vital signs

Connections are made to gold-like, skin-like electrodes through printed conductors that can stretch with the medical film in which they are embedded.

"This health monitor has an essential benefit for young children who are constantly moving because the conforming compliant device can adapt to this activity with gentle integration on the skin," said the biomedical engineer from Georgia Tech, Woon-Hong Yeo. "This is designed to meet the electronic health monitoring needs of people whose sensitive skin can be damaged by conventional monitors."

A compliant connection means fewer motion artifacts.

"When you put a conventional electrode on the chest, sitting or walking creates motion artifacts that make it difficult to separate signals you want to measure," Yeo said. "Because our device is soft and compliant, it moves with the skin and provides information that can not be seen with the motion artifacts of conventional sensors."

Overall, it measures 75 mm in diameter (a smaller version is in preparation) and uses three electrodes to pick up the signals.

Thin-film mesh-type copper tracks make connections through the flexible substrate and a flexible, stress-isolated substrate connects the flexible pieces to the rigid chip badembly.

Two versions have been developed. One is based on medical tape and designed for short-term use in a hospital or other care facility, while the other uses a flexible elastomeric medical film approved for the treatment of wounds. and can be used for two weeks.

"The devices are completely dry and do not require gel to pick up the skin signals," Yeo explained. "There is nothing between the skin and the ultra-thin sensor, so it's nice to wear. The membrane is waterproof, so an adult could take a shower while wearing it. "

A long-term connection means a long-term recording of ECG data, opening the door to the badysis of AI.

"We use deep learning to monitor the signals while comparing them to data from a larger group of patients," Yeo said.

In addition to a smaller version, Yeo plans to add monitoring of temperature, oxygen in the blood and blood pressure.

The work is described in "Extensible Wireless Hybrid Electronics, All-in-One for Intelligent, Connected and Ambulatory Physiological Monitoring," published in Advanced Science – a comprehensive document available for free, with construction details.