Non-invasive smart implants in healthcare: Redefining healthcare services delivery through sensors and emerging digital health technologies

Abstract

The adoption of non-invasive smart implants is inevitable due to recent technological advancements in smart implants and the increasing demand to provide pervasive and personalized care. The integration of non-invasive smart implants presents unprecedented opportunities for effective disease prevention, real-time health data collection, early detection of diseases, real-time monitoring of chronic diseases, virtual patient care, patient-tailored treatment, and minimally invasive management of diseases. Even though the research work in this area is nascent, this study presents the potential benefits and use of non-invasive smart implants in healthcare while reflecting on the potential challenges and limitations of their utilization. With current technological advancements, the adoption of non-invasive smart implants is regaining momentum in managing chronic conditions and diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive impairment; orthopedic surgery, dental surgery; and managing and remotely monitoring infectious diseases such as the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the full adoption and utilization of non-invasive smart implants still encounter barriers such as lack of policies and frameworks regulating their use, limited memory space, health consequences and implants' failure, clinical challenges, health hazards imposed by non-invasive smart implants, health data security, and privacy risks. Therefore, there is a need for robust security and privacy measures as well as the formulation of policies guiding the development and use of non-invasive smart implants. With the gained experience from smart implants, the next generation of non-invasive smart implants may include sophisticated modern computational techniques that can analyze health data and suggest adequate therapeutic actions.