Innovation in medical devices -- implantable, wearable, mobile, and even swallowable -- has grown exponentially in the last few years. Yet the medical industry has been struggling with one tremendous barrier to medical device advancement: power.
The Current Medical Power Solution Limits Innovation and Adds Health Risk
Medical devices are often tiny, yet need energy to run over a long period of time and communicate information over a distance, which requires a large amount of power. Patients may need to visit the doctor frequently to recharge batteries on devices that are managing pain or even mitigating disease. Wires and invasive procedures to maintain power can lead to infection and lower quality of life.
Medical Device Innovators Are Adopting Wireless Power Technologies
The good news is many medical device companies are turning to wireless power to overcome this barrier to innovation. “The medical industry will [...] see some major new opportunities via implantable electronics that can live inside our bodies but receive power from the outside,” says physicist Alex Lidow.[1]
Consider all of the various types of medical applications that will benefit from wireless power:
- Heart pumps
- Pacemakers and heart monitors
- Chronic pain scintillators
- Brain implants
- Epidermal patches, such as those that capture range of motion or use sweat to detect fatigue or blood sugar levels
- Portable medical devices
- Swallowable electronics that take measurements and intervene in disease
- Smart pill bottles that light up and trigger a phone call if you don’t take your medication
Not to mention the benefit of patient care facilities and operating rooms that will leverage wireless power technology: increased doctor mobility, increased sterilization, and reduced risk of accidents. As an example,“medical devices [...] could wirelessly transmit information about a heart patient’s condition around the clock,” reports Science Daily about research from the University of Washington.[2]
And this is just the beginning of all the opportunities wireless power will bring the medical industry.
Real Wireless Power Is the Answer to Medical Industry Technology Advancement
Not all wireless power technologies are the same. There are many different types, and some require the device to be placed on a charging mat or pad and some require line of sight. These are simply not effective long term for the medical industry.
According to News Medical, a common patient complaint: battery recharge issues with devices like neurostimulation therapy for chronic intractable pain, which uses a medical device placed under a patient's skin to deliver mild electrical impulses.[3]
Medical professionals need the flexibility to work with devices anywhere at any time while empowering their patients to embrace medical device solutions without constant power maintenance needs.
Ossia's flagship wireless power technology, Cota™, redefines wireless power by safely delivering remote, targeted energy to devices at a distance, while automatically keeping multiple devices charged without any patient or medical professional intervention. Cota enables an efficient and truly wire-free, powered-up, connected medical industry that will revolutionize patient treatment.
[1]http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/science/interview-with-the-physicist-who-has-advanced-wireless-power/article/502770#ixzz4t9GdVBoF
[2] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170913193030.htm
[3]https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170919/Medtronic-launch-spinal-chord-stimulation-platform-for-chronic-pain-management-following-FDA-approval.aspx
