Arterial-pulse sensor wirelessly monitors blood flow

The biodegradable, battery-free and wireless sensor doesn’t need to be removed from a patient and can warn doctors of an arterial blockage. The compact sensor is detailed in a paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

"Measurement of blood flow is critical in many medical specialities, so a wireless biodegradable sensor could impact multiple fields including vascular, transplant, reconstructive and cardiac surgery," said Paige Fox, assistant professor of surgery and co-senior author of the paper. "This is a technology that will allow us to extend our care without requiring face-to-face visits or tests."

According to Stanford, the sensor wraps around the healing vessel, where blood pulsing past pushes on its inner surface. As the shape of that surface changes, it alters the sensor's capacity to store electric charge, which doctors can detect remotely from a device located near the skin but outside the body. That device solicits a reading by pinging the antenna of the sensor. In the future, this device could come in the form of a stick-on patch or be integrated into other technology, like a wearable device or smartphone.