New Under-Skin Device Tests Blood - No More Needles?

Thanks to a tiny new medical implant, patients needing blood work may finally be able to say something they've never said before: Good-bye needles!

A team of scientists from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has developed a miniature electronic device to be implanted under the skin and which will provide immediate analysis of one's blood.

Researchers say the implant is able to analyze up to five proteins and organic acids all at once, and then wirelessly transmit the results to a computer or handheld device --- presumably belonging to one's doctor.

"We have also detected bilirubin, dopamine and other neurotransmitters like glutamate," development team co-leader Sandro Carrara told Discovery News. "The power of this platform is that it provides simultaneous detection of several metabolites at the same moment."

Carrara said her group envisions the device will help health care providers better monitor patients, especially those suffering from chronic illnesses or undergoing chemotherapy.

Measuring a little more than a half-inch long, the implant includes five sensors, a coil for wireless power and a small transmitter that will emit radio waves over a safe frequency. The device's battery supply would be taped outside a patient's body, able to be changed without surgery.

"The idea is to shape the final packaging to correspond with a syringe to insert it under the skin's surface," Carrara said. "It could be removed just by pulling the tape."

Each sensor is covered with specific enzymes that help doctors to help find and target specific substances in the body.

"This implant will enable continuous care, day and night, with little discomfort for the patient," the team's other co-leader, Giovanni de Micheli, explained in an email.

Carrara noted one of the biggest challenges of the project was creating sensors with enough sensitivity, since working at such a small scale limits surface area.

The device is still in the prototype phase and has only been tested on animals.

Nonetheless, Carrara and his colleagues are confident that "in cases of chronic patients or patients that need to be monitored continuously" a doctor will soon have the ability to "directly receive alerts on his smartphone or iPod."