SBIR-STTR Award

A clear need exists for the development of advanced power sources and recharging protocols for implanted electro-medical devices. The useful lifetime of most implants is constrained by the longevity of the power source. Pacemaker and other implantable battery replacement procedures are expensive, cause patient distress, and have the potential for causing infections. Many new and emerging medical device technologies, such as enhanced inter-device telemetry, automated wireless alarm signaling, advanced sensors, and infusion pump therapies, continue to place demands on power. A novel new method for recharging secondary batteries can provide significant advantages over the infrequently used currently method. A wireless power transmission method based on the principle of ultrasound technology is being developed. The concept is made feasible by the development of PMN-PT, an advanced material that exhibits significant potential for transforming acoustic to electrical power. The potential advantages include much smaller transmitters and receivers, receivers that can be embedded in devices, and elimination of electromagnetic interference and metal heating. The goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of significant wireless power transfer to sites within the body using this material. Specific aims include designing the receiver, making the material with the correct properties, fabricating the receiver, developing the circuitry to mate it to the implantable battery, confirming useful power transmission levels experimentally, meanwhile being careful to adhere to accepted FDA ultrasound safety guidelines.

Public Health Relevance:
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A clear need exists for the development of advanced power ources and recharging options for implanted electro-medical devices. The useful lifetime of most implants is constrained by the longevity of the power source. When an implanted primary (non-rechargeable) battery has discharged to a predetermined threshold, surgery must be scheduled to replace the battery or the entire device, at considerable cost, patient distress, and about a 2% chance of infection. Implantable devices that might use rechargeable batteries include a growing variety of neurostimulators to counteract Parkinson's symptoms, for chemotherapy, to electrically stimulate the stomach, throat, urinary tract and other muscles, to deliver pain medication, and for implanted pressure and temperature sensors whose use will proliferate quickly. All of these applications place demands on electrical power within the body. A novel new method for recharging secondary batteries can overcome some of the difficulties of the present method, which includes MRI incompatibility. The wireless power transmission technology being developed is based on well known principles of ultrasound, which is know for its safety in diagnostic applications. The potential advantages include smaller transmitters and receivers, elimination of electromagnetic interference and heating of metal parts, and transmission of power to deeper sites in the body. The latter will drive new applications. Our principal goals and specific aims are to demonstrate its ultimate capabilities in vivo, facilitate more rapid recharging thus fostering patient compliance, comply with FDA safety regulations, and move the technology forward to the prototype stage, ready to be made into a useful product. We will do this by increasing its power delivery, showing that any temperature rise is kept within FDA guidelines, developing alignment and cooling techniques, and constructing small and inexpensive components. This technology will support the NIH mission, advancing its goals to improve human health and reduce health care costs by: 1) alleviating the distress, pain, and complications by reducing battery replacement operations, 2) increasing functionality of the implant by providing more power for diagnostic output or burst mode operation, 3) improving patient compliance, and 4) reducing the number of expensive operations that replace batteries and other components.

Public Health Relevance:
This new wireless recharging technique will result in increased longevity and capability of implanted batteries and will advance several public health goals by: 1) alleviating distress, pain, complications and cost by reducing the number of battery replacement operations, 2) increasing functionality of the implant by providing more power for diagnostic output or burst mode operation, 3) improving patient compliance.

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Acute; Advanced Development; Analgesic Agents; Analgesic Drugs; Analgesic Preparation; Analgesics; Anodynes; Antinociceptive Agents; Antinociceptive Drugs; Area; Biocompatible; Biocompatible Materials; Biomaterials; Body Tissues; Cdc; Care, Health; Centers For Disease Control; Centers For Disease Control (U.S.); Centers For Disease Control And Prevention; Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (U.S.); Cessation Of Life; Charge; Compliance Behavior; Contracting Opportunities; Contracts; Crossmatching, Tissue; Death; Defibrillators; Development; Development And Research; Devices; Diagnosis, Ultrasound; Diagnostic; Distress; Echography; Echotomography; Effectiveness; Electric Shock Cardiac Stimulators; Electromagnetic; Electromagnetics; Electronics; Ensure; Evaluation; Exposure To; Family Suidae; Fostering; Foundations; Frequencies (Time Pattern); Frequency; Funding; Generalized Growth; Goals; Government; Growth; Guidelines; Head And Neck, Pharynx; Health; Health Care Costs; Health Care Industry; Health Costs; Healthcare; Healthcare Costs; Healthcare Industry; Heating; Histocompatibility Testing; Human; Human, General; Idiopathic Parkinson Disease; Implant; In Vitro; Industry, Healthcare; Infection; Intellectual Property; Lead; Legal Patent; Length Of Life; Length Of Stay; Letters; Lewy Body Parkinson Disease; Licensing; Longevity; Mr Imaging; Mr Tomography; Mri; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scan; Man (Taxonomy); Man, Modern; Manufacturer; Manufacturer Name; Marketing; Measurement; Medical Device; Medical Imaging, Magnetic Resonance / Nuclear Magnetic Resonance; Medical Imaging, Ultrasound; Metals; Methods; Methods And Techniques; Methods, Other; Mission; Modeling; Monitor; Muscle; Muscle Tissue; Nih; Nmr Imaging; Nmr Tomography; National Institutes Of Health; National Institutes Of Health (U.S.); Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Number Of Days In Hospital; Operation; Operative Procedures; Operative Surgical Procedures; Output; Pace Stimulators; Pacemakers; Pain; Pain Control; Pain Therapy; Pain Management; Painful; Paralysis Agitans; Parkinson; Parkinson Disease; Parkinson's; Parkinson's Disease; Parkinsons Disease; Patents; Patient Compliance; Patient Cooperation; Patients; Pb Element; Persons; Pharyngeal Structure; Pharynx; Pharynxs; Phase; Physics; Pigs; Plant Embryos; Power Sources; Power Supplies; Pressure; Pressure- Physical Agent; Primary Parkinsonism; Procedures; Production; Proliferating; Public Health; R & D; R&D; Radio; Regulation; Research Design; Sched; Safety; Schedule; Seeds; Site; Staging; Stimulators, Electrical, Cardiac, Shock; Stimulators, Electrical, Pace; Stomach; Study Type; Suidae; Surgical; Surgical Interventions; Surgical Procedure; Swine; Symptoms; System; System, Loinc Axis 4; Techniques; Technology; Temperature; Temperature Sense; Testing; Therapeutic; Throat; Time; Timeline; Tissue Crossmatchings; Tissue Growth; Tissue Typing; Tissues; Transmission; Treatment Compliance; Ultrasonic Imaging; Ultrasonogram; Ultrasonography; Ultrasound Test; Ultrasound, Medical; United States Centers For Disease Control; United States Centers For Disease Control And Prevention; United States National Institutes Of Health; Urinary Tract; Weight; Wireless Technology; Zeugmatography; Zygotes, Plant; Analgesia; Awake; Base; Biomedical Implant; Chemotherapy; Compliance Cooperation; Cost; Design; Design And Construction; Designing; Diagnostic Ultrasound; Experiment; Experimental Research; Experimental Study; Gastric; Heart Function; Heavy Metal Pb; Heavy Metal Lead; Histocompatibility Typing; Hospital Days; Hospital Length Of Stay; Hospital Stay; Human Tissue; Implant Device; Implantable Device; Implanted Sensor; Improved; In Vivo; Indwelling Device; Innovate; Innovation; Innovative; Interest; Life Span; Lifespan; Miniaturize; Nano; Next Generation; Novel; Ontogeny; Patient Adherence; Porcine; Pressure; Prototype; Public Health Medicine (Field); Public Health Relevance; Research And Development; Research Study; Safety Study; Seed; Sensor; Simulation; Sonogram; Sonography; Sound Measurement; Study Design; Suid; Surgery; Therapy Compliance; Therapy Cooperation; Thermoreception; Transmission Process; Ultrasound; Ultrasound Imaging; Ultrasound Scanning; Wireless