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Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers

Miniaturization of active implantable medical devices is currently compromised by the available means for electrically powering them. Most common energy supply techniques for implants – batteries and inductive couplers – comprise bulky parts which, in most cases, are significantly larger than the ci...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Ivorra, Antoni
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151300/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21850274
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023456
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author Ivorra, Antoni
author_facet Ivorra, Antoni
author_sort Ivorra, Antoni
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description Miniaturization of active implantable medical devices is currently compromised by the available means for electrically powering them. Most common energy supply techniques for implants – batteries and inductive couplers – comprise bulky parts which, in most cases, are significantly larger than the circuitry they feed. Here, for overcoming such miniaturization bottleneck in the case of implants for electrical stimulation, it is proposed to make those implants act as rectifiers of high frequency bursts supplied by remote electrodes. In this way, low frequency currents will be generated locally around the implant and these low frequency currents will perform stimulation of excitable tissues whereas the high frequency currents will cause only innocuous heating. The present study numerically demonstrates that low frequency currents capable of stimulation can be produced by a miniature device behaving as a diode when high frequency currents, neither capable of thermal damage nor of stimulation, flow through the tissue where the device is implanted. Moreover, experimental evidence is provided by an in vivo proof of concept model consisting of an anesthetized earthworm in which a commercial diode was implanted. With currently available microelectronic techniques, very thin stimulation capsules (diameter <500 µm) deliverable by injection are easily conceivable.
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spelling pubmed-31513002011-08-17 Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers Ivorra, Antoni PLoS One Research Article Miniaturization of active implantable medical devices is currently compromised by the available means for electrically powering them. Most common energy supply techniques for implants – batteries and inductive couplers – comprise bulky parts which, in most cases, are significantly larger than the circuitry they feed. Here, for overcoming such miniaturization bottleneck in the case of implants for electrical stimulation, it is proposed to make those implants act as rectifiers of high frequency bursts supplied by remote electrodes. In this way, low frequency currents will be generated locally around the implant and these low frequency currents will perform stimulation of excitable tissues whereas the high frequency currents will cause only innocuous heating. The present study numerically demonstrates that low frequency currents capable of stimulation can be produced by a miniature device behaving as a diode when high frequency currents, neither capable of thermal damage nor of stimulation, flow through the tissue where the device is implanted. Moreover, experimental evidence is provided by an in vivo proof of concept model consisting of an anesthetized earthworm in which a commercial diode was implanted. With currently available microelectronic techniques, very thin stimulation capsules (diameter <500 µm) deliverable by injection are easily conceivable. Public Library of Science 2011-08-05 /pmc/articles/PMC3151300/ /pubmed/21850274 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023456 Text en Antoni Ivorra. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ivorra, Antoni
Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers
title Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers
title_full Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers
title_fullStr Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers
title_full_unstemmed Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers
title_short Remote Electrical Stimulation by Means of Implanted Rectifiers
title_sort remote electrical stimulation by means of implanted rectifiers
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151300/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21850274
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023456
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