MIT researchers have developed LUCID, a thin, flexible implant intended to help prevent an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma from returning. Surgery can remove much of the tumor, but cancer cells often remain. The team hopes the device could deliver drugs that kill those remaining cells.
The implant is about as thin as a sheet of thick paper. It combines a small drug container with a delivery tube and 24 tiny parts that produce ultrasound waves. These sound waves help drugs spread farther through brain tissue. Doctors could place the device during surgery and allow it to release medicine gradually.
Doctors can control the ultrasound through Bluetooth after the device is in place. Its small battery can also be charged wirelessly. Ultrasound can temporarily make the blood-brain barrier, which controls what enters the brain from the blood, easier for drugs to cross.
The researchers tested LUCID in a gel designed to imitate human tissue and in mice. In the mouse tests, they delivered a contrast agent, a substance used to make MRI scans clearer. With ultrasound switched on, the substances spread farther than without it. The findings appeared in the journal Device, and the researchers see possible future uses in other organs.
