A research team has developed a microchip that may eventually be implanted in people to relieve lower back pain, a member of the team said yesterday.
The new device, called an implantable pain control SOC (system on chip), is equipped with two sophisticated electrodes that draw energy from an external power source to alleviate back pain by transmitting electromagnetic waves to the spinal cord, said National Taiwan University (NTU) professor Lu Shuei-shih (呂學士), a member of the research team.
Lu said the grain-sized chip helps block the transmission of pain signals to the brain.
The system has been tested on mice, Lu said, adding that the results have been good so far.
Describing the technology as modern radio-frequency acupuncture, Lu said human trials would begin soon. He expressed confidence that the device would be ready for the market in two to three years.
While similar technology has been employed abroad, those products rely on batteries, Lu said.
“Ours doesn’t,” he said. “Moreover, our device is much smaller — about the size of a NT$10 coin.”
The price is another big difference. Foreign-developed pain-control devices, which have to be implanted together with the accompanying battery, cost between NT$400,000 and NT$500,000, Lu said. By contrast, the research team’s model costs about NT$100,000.
Figures from the Bureau of National Health Insurance indicate that reimbursements for lower back pain treatments ranked fourth among payments for various illnesses and conditions in 2005.
“The figure indicates that many local people suffer from back pain,” Lu said. “We believe our invention will bring relief to those who have bone spurs, trigeminal nerve pain and sciatic nerve pain.”
A paper on the new pain-control system, prepared by the NTU-led research team, has been selected for discussion at the International Solid-State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco in February, Lu said.
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