A new biocompatible device developed by Northwestern University researchers is capable of numbing nerves and interrupting pain signals to the brain on demand, potentially the first implant to provide an alternative to opioids and medications highly addictive.
The instrument developed is a small, soft, flexible and water-soluble biocompatible implant that works by wrapping the nerves and providing them with cold through an external pump that the patient controls remotely, increasing or reducing the intensity. At its widest point it is only 5mm allowing it to be precise and specific.
The research, which has been published in the journal Science, has shown the effectiveness of the device in animal models and has verified that its components are naturally absorbed into the body’s biofluids in just a few days or weeks, so it does not require subsequent surgical removal.
“Although opioids are extremely effective, they are also extremely addictive. As engineers, we are motivated by the idea of treating pain without medication, in ways that can be turned on and off instantly, with user control over the intensity of relief. The technology reported here exploits mechanisms that have some similarities to those that make fingers feel numb when cold. Our implant allows that effect to occur programmably, directly, and locally on specific nerves, even those deep in the surrounding soft tissues,” explains John A. Rogers, lead author of the study.
A useful implant after routine surgeries or amputations
The authors believe that the implant will be most useful for patients undergoing routine surgeries or even amputations, since they are the ones who usually need postoperative drugs to cope with pain. In addition, surgeons could implant the device during the operation itself, which reduces pain from minute one and avoids possible drug addiction.
The implant works with a cooling liquid that cools the nerve, reducing its activity and, therefore, preventing the pain signal from reaching the brain.
The operation of the implant is similar to how the body evaporates sweat to cool the body. In this way, the device has a cooling liquid that acts against the sensory nerve, which when cooled reduces its signal transmission speed until it stops completely. Its action is directed at the peripheral nerves, which connect the brain and spinal cord with the rest of the body.
Rogers warns that “excessive cooling can damage the nerve and the fragile tissues that surround it. Therefore, the duration and temperature of cooling must be precisely controlled. By monitoring temperature in the nerve, flow rates can be automatically adjusted to set a point that reversibly and safely blocks pain.”
What is intended with this device is to cool, and therefore disable, the nerves that transmit painful stimuli, if it were not as precise as it is, there would be the problem that the nerves of motor function would also be blocked, causing, for example, could not move a hand.
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