Ernesto A. Pretto, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., professor of clinical anesthesiology and former chief of abdominal transplant anesthesiology, Miami Transplant Institute, UHealth/Jackson Health System; Robert Fiala, M.D., assistant professor of clinical anesthesiology and chief of anesthesiology at UHealth Tower and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Carla Roscio Cordova, M.D., assistant professor of clinical anesthesia, have teamed up with two engineers from Florida International University to create a wearable biosensor that detects the blood concentration of volatile anesthetic vapors transcutaneously, or through the patient’s skin.
The two FIU engineers are Shekhar Bhansali, Alcatel-Lucent professor and chair of FIU's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Yogeswaran Umasankar, research assistant in FIU's Biomedical Science Institute.
The technology behind the wearable device – a fuel cell – is quite simple and has been used for more than 80 years to generate power. But only in recent years has fuel cell technology been adapted for use as a sensing device, and it wasn’t until Pretto teamed up with Bhansali and Umasankar, that the promise of detecting anesthetic vapors transdermally in real time took hold.
Learn more about this collaboration on Inventum, University of Miami Health System's research, education & medical news website.