Flexible low-profile external ventricular drain catheter for real-time brain monitoring

Hoon Yi; Hodam Kim; Ka Ram Kim; Ju Hyeon Kim; Juhee Kim; Hyunjae Lee; Sanjeet S Grewal; William D Freeman; Woon-Hong Yeo

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2024.116267

Flexible low-profile external ventricular drain catheter for real-time brain monitoring

Biosens Bioelectron. 2024 Jul 1:255:116267. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2024.116267. Epub 2024 Apr 2.

Authors

Hoon Yi¹, Hodam Kim¹, Ka Ram Kim¹, Ju Hyeon Kim², Juhee Kim³, Hyunjae Lee⁴, Sanjeet S Grewal⁵, William D Freeman⁶, Woon-Hong Yeo⁷

Affiliations

¹ George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA; IEN Center for Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
² George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA; IEN Center for Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, 22212, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Korea Military Academy, Seoul, 01805, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA; Department of Neurology, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA.
⁷ George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA; IEN Center for Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA; Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA. Electronic address: whyeo@gatech.edu.

PMID: 38581838
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2024.116267

Abstract

External ventricular drainage is one of the most common neurosurgical procedures in the world for acute hydrocephalus, which must be performed carefully by a neurosurgeon. Although various neuromonitoring external ventricular drain (EVD) catheters have been utilized, they still suffer from rigidity and bulkiness to mitigate post-EVD placement trauma. Here, we introduce a flexible and low-profile smart EVD catheter using a class of technologies with sensitive electrical materials, seamless integration, and flexible mechanics, which serves as a highly soft and minimally invasive device to monitor electrical brain signals. This device reliably captures biopotentials in real time while exhibiting remarkable flexibility and reliability. The seamless integration of its sensory system promises a minimally invasive EVD placement on brain tissue. This work validates the device's distinct characteristics and performances through in vitro experiments and computational analysis. Collectively, this device's exceptional patient- and user-friendly attributes highlight its potential as one of the most practical EVD catheters.

Keywords: Bioelectronics; Catheters; Electrical brain signal; External ventricular drain.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
Brain
Catheters
Drainage / methods
Humans
Reproducibility of Results