Edible Electronic Medical Devices and their Potential Application in the Medical Field: A Review

Introduction

The significant elevation in the population with neurological and cardiovascular disorders has extensively augmented the requirement of implantable devices. Implantable electronic devices such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, continuous glucose monitors, and deep brain stimulators have proved the efficiency of the channels for therapeutic delivery (Bettinger, 2015). However, implantable electronics may involve surgery, and the replacement of batteries is expensive (Kerley et al., 2015). The implanted device stimulates the immune system to degrade and leach out the toxic ions from the device. These poisonous substances may interfere with the recovery of the adjacent tissues, and there are high chances of infection as the implanted devices are susceptible to surface fouling (Bazaka & Jacob, 2012). Also, since the rotor component of a few implantable devices is not integrated into the body, the vibrations produced by these devices harm the body's soft tissues (Plekhanova et al., 2019). Reducing the risks associated with surgical implantation is critical in the clinical translation of medical devices (Kim et al., 2013). Therefore, while comparing implantable devices, edible electronic devices have scores of advantages to improve the safety and level of diagnosis and treatment of pathologies ranging from gastrointestinal infections to diabetes (Bettinger, 2015). Edible electronics are telemetric ingestible and non-toxic devices fabricated from food-based materials to diagnose and treat various diseases. Telemedicine is claimed to be safe for swallowing as the device is entirely digested within the body and released into the environment. The emergence of edible electronics is dated back to the 1950s. Edible electronic devices are assembled in the form of “smart pills” to perform the digital supervision of medicine throughout chronically treated conditions. The functions of the digestive system using different strategies include imparting control on the rate, time, and location of drug release in the digestive tract, such that they are represented as a tool of therapeutic applications are enhanced (Sharova et al., 2020). The usage of edible electronics has been elevated in recent years in various domains. For example, microelectronic devices are introduced into the body to document physiological data without which are unobtainable (Bettinger, 2019; Beardslee et al., 2020).