AI-powered drug implant hailed as ‘revolutionary’ for chronic conditions

Researchers have developed an artificially intelligent medical implant that can sense when a patient needs drugs released into their body and evades scar tissue build-up by changing shape.

The breakthrough has been hailed as “revolutionary” for those with chronic conditions.

Implantable device technologies can be used to treat long-term illnesses such as diabetes by releasing insulin into the body. However, a major issue can be a patient’s reaction to a foreign body in their system.

Teams based at University of Galway and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created their device using “soft robotics”, a technology that more closely resembles the physical characteristics of living organisms.

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The device can administer medicine and also senses when it is beginning to be rejected by the body. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to change its shape to bypass tissue build-up.

Dr Rachel Beatty from the University of Galway said the technology used in the device means it can “be in a patient’s body for extended periods, providing long-lasting therapeutic action”.

She added: “Imagine a therapeutic implant that can also sense its environment and respond as needed using AI – this approach could generate revolutionary changes in implantable drug delivery for a range of chronic diseases.”

The transatlantic team initially developed their device to improve drug delivery and reduce the build-up of scar tissue.

However, they said they failed to “account for how individual patients react and respond differently, or for the progressive nature of fibrosis, where scar tissue builds around the device, encapsulating it, impeding and blocking its purpose, eventually forcing it to fail”.

Using AI has made the next-generation device more responsive to its environment.

The team used an emerging technique known as mechanotherapy, where soft robotic implants make regular movements in the body, such as inflating and deflating, to stop scar tissue from forming.

The device is fitted with a membrane that senses when pores are blocked by scar tissue. It detects the blockages as cells and the materials the cells produce block electrical signals travelling through the membrane.

Dr Beatty added: “I wanted to tailor drug delivery to individuals, but needed to create a method of sensing the foreign body response first.”

The researchers measured electrical impedance and scar tissue formation on the membrane to find a correlation then developed an algorithm using machine learning to predict what changes would be needed to maintain the drug dosage.

Using computer simulations, they also explored the potential of the device releasing medication over time surrounded by scar tissue of differing thicknesses.

Their findings – published in the journal Science Robotics – showed changing the force and number of times the device moved to changed shape allowed it to release more drugs and bypass scar tissue build-up.

Garry Duffy, a professor of anatomy and regenerative medicine at University of Galway and senior author on the study, added: “The device worked out the best regime to release a consistent dose, by itself, even when significant fibrosis was simulated.

“We showed a worst-case scenario of very thick and dense scar tissue around the device and it overcame this by changing how it pumps to deliver medication. We could finely control the drug release in a computational model and on the bench using soft robotics, regardless of significant fibrosis.”

Prof Duffy added: “This is a new area of research that can have implications in other places and is not solely limited for the treatment of diabetes.

“Our discovery could provide consistent and responsive dosing over long periods, without clinician involvement, enhancing efficacy and reducing the need for device replacement because of fibrosis.” – PA