Flexible electronics developed to help treat irregular heart rhythms

According to the Science Translational Medicine journal, the team from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Pennsylvania are the first to demonstrate such a device used for a medical applications. Northwestern's Prof Yonggang Huang, a senior author of the paper, said: "The heart is dynamic and not flat, but electronics currently used for monitoring are flat and rigid. Our electronics have a wavy mesh design so they can wrap around irregular and curved surfaces, like the beating heart. The device is thin, flexible and stretchable and brings electronic circuits right to the tissue. More contact points mean better data." In experiments conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, the team demonstrated that the electronics continue to operate when immersed in the body's fluids, and the mechanical design allows the device to conform to and wrap around the body's irregularly shaped tissues. The device uses 288 contact points and more than 2000 transistors positioned closely together. Standard clinical systems usually have only five to 10 contact points. The new device measures 14.4 x 12.8mm. For more on implantable electronics, see the downloadable pdf