New device has the potential to provide an alternative to opioids and other highly addictive drugs. A small, soft, flexible implant that relieves pain on demand and without the use of drugs has been developed by a team of researchers led by Northwestern University. The first-of-its-kind device co
The soft flexible device bends and stretches with the body, without the need for bulky, rigid hardware. Credit: Northwestern UniversityA small, soft, flexible implant that relieves pain on demand and without the use of drugs has been developed by a team of researchers led by. The first-of-its-kind device could provide a much-needed alternative to opioids and other highly addictive medications.
The paper describes the device’s design and demonstrates its effectiveness in an animal model. It was published in the July 1 issue of the journalIllustration of the implantable device inside an arm. The red oval indicates pain. The device softly wraps around the peripheral nerve to silence signals to the brain. Credit: Northwestern University
“As you cool down a nerve, the signals that travel through the nerve become slower and slower — eventually stopping completely,” said study co-author Dr. Matthew MacEwan of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “We are specifically targeting peripheral nerves, which connect your brain and your spinal cord to the rest of your body. These are the nerves that communicate sensory stimuli, including pain.
“Excessive cooling can damage the nerve and the fragile tissues around it,” Rogers said. “The duration and temperature of the cooling must therefore be controlled precisely. By monitoring the temperature at the nerve, the flow rates can be adjusted automatically to set a point that blocks pain in a reversible, safe manner. On-going work seeks to define the full set of time and temperature thresholds below which the process remains fully reversible.
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