Microfluidic‐Release Insertion Shuttle Designed for Implanting Flexible Biomedical Electronic Devices into Live Bodies

Abstract

AbstractImplantable biomedical devices in flexible forms are attractive as they are more mechanically compatible with soft live tissues than rigid implants. The flexible implants can bend comfortably instead of delivering stress or strain to the surrounding live tissues when they are exposed to external stresses. However, because of the nature of the mechanical properties, the flexible biomedical implants have one important drawback, difficulty in handling the floppy implants without bending or wrinkling when inserting through small incision of live tissues. Here, the microfluidic‐release insertion shuttle is presented, which delivers flexible implants through the live tissues with added stiffness and releases the implants by dissolving a temporary adhesive layer with controlled infusing releasing solution through the structures such as post array and microfluidic channel. Experimental studies with variations in design parameters such as radii and pitches of the post array provide design guidance of the insertion shuttle. The results include in vivo experiments with functional flexible electronic implants into a live pig animal model to demonstrate feasibility of the concept.