Nanomaterial-Based Devices Potential for Reducing Cardiovascular Diseases and Even Death

A team of researchers recently reviewed the present state of nanomaterial-based flexible monitoring and treatment devices and proposed the next steps to make such devices a practical possibility.

As specified in a Phys.org report, cardiovascular diseases are the "leading cause of death" worldwide, responsible for about 17.0 million or 32 million of all deaths globally each year.

Essentially, monitoring and treatment may lessen the incidence of death, although the health care options are limited by conventional devices' rigidity and biological incompatibility, like blood pressure sensors.

Researchers from Peking University in China said there might be a solution in nanomaterials, although more studies are needed before practical application.

Nanomaterial-Based Devices

According to Haixia Alice Zhang, professor in the National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication at Peking University's School of Integrated Circuits, also the lead author of the study published in Nano Research, cardiovascular diseases are major diseases with high incidence rates, "high occurrence rates, and a wide range of health-and life-threatening complications."

She added the ability to monitor and treat such diseases better is of vital essentiality. Zhang explained that the distinctive properties of nanomaterials make them an appealing option for wearable and implantable monitoring and treatment devices.

Zhang, who is affiliated with Peking University's Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, as well, also explained that nanomaterial-based devices are opening up new opportunities with their outstanding characteristics, which include conductivity, softness, stretchability, and biocompatibility, which are essential to ensure user comfort, as well as precise signal acquisition.

For instance, she elaborated that soft and stretchable nanomaterials allow intimately conformal contact between devices and biological tissues, "allowing for accurate monitoring" minus disturbing natural behaviors of the human body.

Cardiac Mesh

The lead author continued explaining that nanomaterials can be made biocompatible for utilization as implantable devices, like cardiac mesh.

A similar StatNano report said, employing bioresorbable nanomaterials is an effective approach to avoiding additional surgery following short-term cardiovascular treatments, explained Zhang adding that some nanomaterials that might be utilized for temporary treatment and their ability to dissolve would enable patients to avoid "device-removal surgeries," as well as linked risks like infections among others.

The lead author also emphasized that despite recent advances in nanomaterial-based flexible devices, once such challenge is an undesirable property of nanomaterials-self-aggression resulting from strong interactions in the materials, resulting in non-uniform dispersion.

The team explained the lead author is working to address this issue, although there is still a long way to go to attain repeatable and stable uniformity that can be commercialized.

The researchers are planning to continue studying nanomaterial-based flexible devices to solve the identified problems to offer a better choice for care for cardiovascular diseases.

Related information about nanotech for diagnosis and treatment of diseases is shown on Slice's YouTube video below:

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