Biomedical Electrode with Degradable Rigid Member
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current clinical electrode array implants are rigid, leading to inflammatory responses and poor interaction with biological tissues due to mechanical mismatch, and existing soft flexible devices are difficult to handle and insert into complex bodily cavities.
Innovation Solution
A biomedical device featuring a flat, soft substrate with electrically conductive tracks and a rigid member made of a mechanically adaptive, degradable material that softens upon trigger, allowing easy handling and insertion while maintaining biocompatibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If rigid materials are used for electrode array implants, then easy handling and surgical positioning are achieved, but inflammatory response occurs due to mechanical mismatch with soft biological tissues
Solution Approach 1:
The implant structure transitions from a static rigid state during surgery to a dynamic soft state after implantation. The rigidifying agent is applied temporarily during surgical positioning to provide structural support, then gradually degraded or removed to allow the soft flexible substrate to conform to biological tissues, resolving the mechanical mismatch issue.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical properties of the implant are changed over time through parameter transformation. The substrate starts with high stiffness (when rigidifying agent is present) for easy handling, then transitions to low stiffness (as the agent degrades) to match soft biological tissues, eliminating inflammatory response while maintaining surgical ease.
2Adaptability or versatility
If soft flexible materials are used for biomedical devices, then biointegration and conformability to biological surfaces are improved, but handling and insertion into bodily cavities become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
A rigidifying agent is applied to the soft flexible substrate before the surgical procedure to temporarily transform it into a rigid state. This preliminary rigidification enables easy handling and insertion into hard-to-reach bodily cavities, while the substrate retains its inherent soft flexibility for biointegration once the rigidifying agent is removed or degraded.
3Ease of operation
If rigidifying coatings are applied to flexible probes, then handling is improved, but the coating degrades over time leaving the probe soft and potentially difficult to handle again
Solution Approach 1:
The rigidifying agent is designed as a temporary, short-lived component that serves its purpose during surgery and then degrades completely. This disposable rigidifying layer provides transient structural support without compromising the long-term soft flexibility needed for biointegration, accepting that the coating will degrade rather than requiring permanent durability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables robust handling and minimally invasive insertion of soft elastomer-based devices into complex body locations without compromising mechanical properties or biocompatibility, facilitating surgical operations and reducing tissue trauma.
Implementation Method 1
a rigid member, substantially composed of a mechanically adaptive material, becoming soft upon a degrading, such as a softening, trigger
Data Source
AI summary
A biomedical device having improved handling features to be easily inserted into a cavity or recess is disclosed, as well as methods for using thereof, said device comprising a flat and soft substrate, comprising electrically conductive tracks, configured to interface a biological surface; and a rigid member located on a portion of said flat and soft substrate, said member being substantially composed of a mechanically adaptive material being fully or partially degradable upon a degrading/softening trigger.