Esha Mohite, MGM College of Engineering and Technology
What is SCS?
Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) is a therapy recommended for patients with chronic pain in the leg, back, and chest. A spinal cord stimulator is an electronic device that is inserted under the skin surgically. It is made up of many parts, but its three crucial parts are-
- Electric pulse generator which generates the pulses.
- Electrodes are responsible for carrying the pulses. An SCS machine can have 16- 32 electrodes.
- A hand-held remote control.
The SCS is generally used as an effort to minimize the use of medical opioids, and for patients who don’t wish to undergo extensive surgery with a long recovery time.
SCS works by generating pulses in the nerves, through an electric pulse generator. These pulses mask the pain signals sent to the brain by the affected area, leaving behind just a tingling sensation.
As of now, there are 2 types of SCS, a tube-like implant, and a paddle-like broader device. The tube-like implant can be injected via a Touhy needle through a simple, non-invasive procedure. But a major drawback is its limited spatial range and the risk it poses of migrating throughout the body.
On the other hand, a paddle-like implant gives a more focused, targeted effect. Also, it is more stable as compared to tube-like implants. Its major drawback is the high-risk, complex surgery needed to fit the implant. The surgery may also result in injury to the spinal cord.
Who is eligible for SCS therapy?
The patient wanting to get an SCS therapy has to undergo a thorough physical check-up. They also need to recover successfully from the SCS implant. A mental check-up is conducted on the patients to check for any residual trauma due to chronic pain.
The new inflatable MI-SCS:
Keeping in mind all the above listed problems related to the two different types of SCS devices, Damiano Barone working at the University of Cambridge, along with his colleagues, has designed a fusion of those two types.
An inflatable device is made of pure gold sheets and extremely thin plastic. This device is tube-like during injecting in the body and can be easily inserted via a moderate-sized needle. This has cancelled out the risk factor from the SCS implant surgery. This tube-like structure when inside the body, inflates into a paddle-like broader device, resulting in an increased range and simultaneously, efficiency.
Also, the issue of anterior-posterior device inflation was kept in mind, in which the device, instead of inflating parallel to the spinal cord, might inflate pressing into it, thus putting a lot of pressure on the spinal cord. To prevent this from happening, design restraints were placed in the device, which would stop it from expanding due to fluidic actuations.
This Minimally Invasive-SCS (MI-SCS) was designed using soft lithography and photolithography. Its components were made using biocompatible materials like silicone, polyethylene, parylene-C.
The MI-SCS was tested for its electrical properties, flexibility, and its packaging and rolling robustness. After proper validation of the device, it was tested successfully on human cadaveric models.
Also read: How are infectious clones of Begomoviruses constructed?
References:
- Woodington, B. J., Curto, V. F., Yu, Y.-L., Martínez-Domínguez, H., Coles, L., Malliaras, G. G., Proctor, C. M., & Barone, D. G. (2021). Electronics with shape actuation for minimally invasive spinal cord stimulation. Science Advances, 7(26), eabg7833. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg7833
- Spinal Cord Stimulation: https://mayfieldclinic.com/pe-stim.htm
- The in-text image has been prepared using images from Servier Medical Art.
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