Researchers Create Wirelessly Rechargeable Medical Device

Many ailments, such as irregular heartbeats, can be treated by electrical stimulation within the body. But current technology makes in-body devices, such as pacemakers, very bulky because they need big batteries. In some cases, such as brain implants, the size of the device makes implants impossible.

That may not be a major hurdle in future if technology developed by researchers at Stanford University proves successful. Instead of big batteries, they have developed a method to wirelessly charge devices deep inside the body.

They demonstrated the use of the device by regulating the heartbeat of a rabbit using an implant the size of a grain of rice. If such devices can be used in the human body, they could be implanted even in the brain to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, where electrical stimulation of the right nerve cells can reduce shaking caused by a faulty motor-neuron system. Read more...