Research Team Create All-In-One Diagnostic Patch

A team based at the University of California, San Diego has created a precision diagnostic patch that combines several biological and biometric sensors together for the very first time.

The revolutionary skin patch, which was reported on in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, allows for a single patch the size of a nicotine patch that uses both ultrasonic sensors and electrochemical sensors.

The former are used to measure heart rate and blood pressure, whilst the latter measures multiple biomarkers, such as cholesterol levels, glucose, alcohol, blood cell counts and lactate counts.

Part of the reason this has never been done before, and indeed an issue with a lot of multipurpose diagnostic equipment is cross-talk between the various sensors, where one sensor accidentally records information from another sensor.

This was the fundamental problem the Theranos blood-testing machine could never solve, but in this case, the team replaced the liquid ultrasound gel they had been using with a solid ultrasound gel, as well as a centimetre of space between the sensors.

As well as this, the team factored in the issue with natural bending and flexing the patch would go through by using an industrial solvent called toluene and glueing all of the sensors onto a plastic substrate, which stopped the flexing from affecting the information recorded.

In testing, with people wearing the patches on their neck, the patch produced measurements that matched those produced by currently-used monitoring devices such as a blood pressure cuff, glucometer and breathalyser.

Currently, there are issues with signal resolution, and the necessary space to avoid cross-talk has led to the patch being quite thick and cumbersome. However, it has proved the principle of all-in-one diagnostics and could have a major effect on telehealth and life science marketing.