Smart patches for healthcare industry: a review of emerging technologies, challenges, and developmental opportunities

Smart patch healthcare devices are emerging as a distinct user interface in decoding the bidirectional interaction of the five sense organs. Powered by recent advancements in nano-materials, and artificial intelligence predictions, smart patches could understand the immune response of the body by analysing the biofluids, microenvironment and analytes in the five sense organs. These eminent potentials in smart patches, inspired the necessity for a review. Thus, this review aims to bring in to the limelight the current progress in smart patch technologies, highlighting their functions, opportunities and challenges in healthcare applications.

A comprehensive review of literature was conducted focusing on smart patches designed for skin, ocular, cochlear, oral, and nasal applications. Further, the review is structured emphasising details on materials used, fabrication methods adapted, sensing mechanisms employed, enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence and Internet of Things.

The review analysis revealed that smart patches play a multifaceted role in healthcare applications providing (i) continuous health monitoring, (ii) controlled drug delivery, (iii) supports tissue regeneration and (iv) enables modulation of nerve responses. Further, smart patch integration with Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities enables remote healthcare solutions which benefits both physician and patient communities equally. Despite these progresses, challenges remain in term of biocompatibility of the materials chosen, long-term use and stability of the patch, data security and large-scale manufacturing.

Smart patches hold transformative potential in biomedical engineering by bridging biosensing, therapeutic, and digital healthcare domains. This article provides an in-depth review of the current advancements, identifying the existing challenges and emerging opportunities in the field of smart patch research, and thus could guide future research and development. With its broad scope, this review would act as a valuable resource for both researchers and healthcare innovators working towards next-generation biomedical devices.