Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) make our modern lives possible, enabling the technologies we use every day. These digital “sensors” are in devices that have traveled in our pockets, been strapped to our wrists and helped run our cars for decades. They are in phones, smartwatches and even tire-pressure systems.

In recent years, sensor-based technology has been especially transformative in healthcare. Demand for personalized medicine and home-based, remote monitoring solutions, which was already climbing, skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, MEMS-based technological solutions have become a mainstay of patient care, especially for those with chronic diseases.

Digital management of diseases

Take, for example, cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the world. This complex health concern includes heart failure, a chronic condition that affects over 6 million people in the U.S. and over 64 million globally. Heart failure is a race against time: If left untreated, the disease will progress to advanced stages. Earlier diagnosis and intervention are critical, but they can be difficult to achieve without consistent monitoring of a patient’s weight, blood pressure and pulmonary artery (PA) pressure. These physiological markers historically have been tracked during routine clinic visits—just a few times per year.

The challenge is that such infrequent data collection often means the patient’s condition can advance to a point where hospitalization is needed or further interventions are no longer possible. Alarmingly, a patient’s risk of death significantly rises with each heart-failure–related hospitalization—with nearly half of those hospitalized for heart failure dying within a year of their first admission.

Fortunately, the field of MEMS is uniquely suited to allow clinicians to remotely monitor a patient’s condition. MEMS sensors provide a window inside the body like we’ve never had before, constantly measuring physiological indicators. In the case of heart failure, MEMS-based technology like the Abbott CardioMEMS HF System has changed how clinicians are able to make treatment decisions and has empowered patients to be more involved in managing their condition. In my role at Abbott, a global healthcare company, I’ve seen this transformation firsthand.

Our system remotely monitors for PA pressure changes that can indicate worsening heart failure even before the patient starts to physically feel symptoms. This allows care teams to make any necessary therapy adjustments and watch the impact of those changes in real time. Prior to this technology, such a process would have required hospitalization.

Tiny tech that makes a big difference

CardioMEMS is a first-of-its-kind, FDA-approved MEMS device consisting of three parts: a wireless sensor with a delivery catheter, a patient or hospital electronics system and a patient database. The device, which is about the size of a paperclip, is implanted during a minimally invasive procedure and lives on a branch of the main pulmonary artery. It’s made of a hermetically sealed capsule, inductor coil and pressure-sensitive capacitor. It never needs to be charged and uses radio frequency to communicate the PA pressure readings via an external electronic system to the clinical team.

These little devices have a big impact. Real-time tracking of PA pressure, a leading indicator of worsening conditions, means clinicians are more likely to catch an irregularity before it leads to hospitalization for the patient.

This literally saves lives: New meta-analysis findings announced at the Technology and Heart Failure Therapeutics (THT) Conference in March found that monitoring patients remotely with pressure-sensing technology like CardioMEMS significantly improved survival rates, reducing mortality risk by 25% at the two-year point in some heart-failure patients. What’s more, these patients are not only living longer, but their quality of life is improved.

MEMS-based implantable wireless pressure sensors have revolutionized the management of heart failure, providing a life-extending option for many patients.

But we’re just scratching the surface of what is possible. We must continue pushing the limits of this technology so that patients have every tool possible to manage chronic health conditions, allowing them to live longer and with a better quality of life.

By: DocMemory
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