Prognosis of Cardiovascular Conditions Noninvasively Using Printable Elastomeric Electronic Skin

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Cardiovascular Diagnostics

Background:

• Delayed diagnosis of cardiovascular conditions (CVC) contributes to global mortality.
• Current diagnostic methods require specialized medical facilities, hindering timely intervention due to socioeconomic factors.
• There is a need for affordable, easy-to-use point-of-care diagnostic tools for CVC monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an affordable, solvent-free manufactured electronic skin-based strain sensor for early CVC prognosis.
• To enable simple, at-home monitoring of arterial pulse and related CVC indicators.
• To create a point-of-care tool with uncomplicated manufacturing and analysis modules.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a stencil-printable liquid elastomer-carbon nanotube electronic skin sensor using solvent-free manufacturing.
• Utilizing the sensor to detect pulse waves at various arterial locations.
• Analyzing sensor data to derive parameters like augmentation index, stiffness index, and heart rate variability via Poincare plots.

Main Results:

• The sensor demonstrated high linearity and a gauge factor of 234.26.
• Achieved a fast response time of 85 ms for pulse data acquisition.
• Exhibited excellent cyclic stability over 500 cycles and capability to acquire pulse waves under varying arterial pressures.

Conclusions:

• The developed electronic skin sensor is a promising tool for affordable and accessible point-of-care CVC monitoring.
• Its performance characteristics support accurate detection of vital parameters for early disease prognosis.
• The sensor's ease of use and manufacturing facilitate widespread application in managing cardiovascular health.