Improving disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment using novel bionic technologies

Abstract

Increased human life expectancy, due in part to improvements in infant and childhood survival, more active lifestyles, in combination with higher patient expectations for better health outcomes, is leading to an extensive change in the number, type and manner in which health conditions are treated. Over the next decades as the global population rapidly progresses toward a super-aging society, meeting the long-term quality of care needs is forecast to present a major healthcare challenge. The goal is to ensure longer periods of good health, a sustained sense of well-being, with extended periods of activity, social engagement, and productivity. To accomplish these goals, multifunctionalized interfaces are an indispensable component of next generation medical technologies. The development of more sophisticated materials and devices as well as an improved understanding of human disease is forecast to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of conditions ranging from osteoarthritis to Alzheimer's disease and will impact disease prevention. This review examines emerging cutting-edge bionic materials, devices and technologies developed to advance disease prevention, and medical care and treatment in our elderly population including developments in smart bandages, cochlear implants, and the increasing role of artificial intelligence and nanorobotics in medicine.

Keywords: bioelectronics; biointerfaces; materials; medical devices; tissue repair and regeneration; wearables.

FIGURE 1

Advanced wearable electrochemical transducer platforms offer many advantages as wearable sensors for physiological monitoring and are easily integrated onto textile materials or directly on the skin, making this a rapidly growing market with a US$13 billion annual turnover. (a) On‐body continuous monitoring aims to transform centralized hospital‐based care systems to home‐based personal medicine, reducing healthcare cost and time for diagnosis. Despite significant advances in biosensor technology, successful commercialized devices remain few, although the glucose sensors are an exception. (b) Next generation on‐ and in‐body biosensors are forecast to be responsive systems where a target substrate/s (e.g., antibody, protein, DNA) is detected by a bio‐recognition system. Substrate interaction, leads to a signal, for example, an electrical current, pH change, chemical, gas, light, heat or mass change. The transducer converts this into a conventional electrical signal, which is amplified and the data collected are used to initiate a reciprocal response, such as to instruct an on‐ or in‐body drug pump to deliver a specified dose to the patient. This closed‐loop system could offer superior therapeutic activity and play a critical role in early disease detection.

FIGURE 2

A schematic image demonstrating examples of both implantable and wearable, permanent and temporary medical technologies including, cochlear implants, brain‐machine technology, the artificial retina, electronic skin, neuro‐prosthetics, orthopedic implants and smart bandages

FIGURE 3

A schematic demonstrating the potential use of a kinetic bandage for patients with a nonhealing diabetic foot ulcer. An alternating discrete electric field is generated by a wearable nanogenerator by converting mechanical compression during walking into electricity.

FIGURE 4

A schematic of the development of artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and big data over recent years

FIGURE 5

A schematic showing the progression of artificial intelligence (AI), AI‐ML, and the use and potential use of deep learning within medicine. AI is forecast to provide a superior surgical and medical support experience, improve the time and accuracy of administrative tasks as well as offer a superior level of disease identification, early diagnoses, and disease prevention and treatment.