«Electronic» scalp tattoos will simplify brain monitoring

A team of scientists has developed a technology for measuring brain waves using temporary electronic tattoos. The method is currently at the prototype stage and is undergoing initial testing.

The new technique can greatly simplify the monitoring of brain activity and diagnosis of neurological conditions, including seizures, epilepsy, brain tumors, and sleep disorders, compared to conventional electroencephalographic (EEG) studies.

The traditional EEG procedure involves marking the patient’s head and gluing electrodes to the scalp. The electrodes are connected by long wires to a device that records brain activity. An alternative is a special cap with built-in electrodes.

Nanshu Lu, a co-developer of the technology and a professor of engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (USA), notes that preparation for a traditional EEG study takes an hour to two. In addition, the condition of the electrodes needs to be checked every two hours as the glue dries.

The new technology uses a special robot that applies ink made of electrically conductive material to specific points on the scalp. According to Lu, the printing process currently takes an hour due to the need to manually adjust the patient’s head movements. However, a fully automated adaptive system will be able to reduce the time to 20 minutes.

The ink dries to form a thin film — an e-tattoo 30 micrometers thick, which is about half the thickness of a human hair. Just like conventional EEG electrodes, e-tattoos record changes in electrical activity in the brain.

Research, published December 2 in the journal Cell Biomaterials, demonstrated the effectiveness of the technology on five volunteers with short hair. E-tattoos showed the same accuracy in detecting brain waves as traditional EEG electrodes.

The electronic tattoos stayed on the participants’ heads for at least a day, while the conventional electrodes began to come off after six hours. E-tattoos can be easily removed with alcohol wipes or shampoo, unlike glue for EEG electrodes.

Before introducing the technology into clinical practice, scientists need to conduct larger-scale studies on patients with different neurological conditions and hair types. It is also necessary to obtain appropriate safety certificates and regulatory approvals.

In the future, the researchers also hope to integrate wireless data transmitters into the e-tattoo to make the system fully portable.

Source: Livescience