A minimally-invasive intracranial pressure microsensor (mICP) for long-term, continuous ambulatory monitoring

 Abstract

The limited available treatments (e.g., radiation, chemotherapy) for glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and lethal form of primary brain cancer in adults with a median overall survival of 15-20 months, can lead to swelling in the brain that causes elevated intracranial pressure (ICP), the timing of which is unpredictable; this results in the patient presenting to the emergency room with headaches, vomiting, or seizures, which leads to worsened quality of life and survival outcomes. Standard GBM surveillance involves brain MRI scans every 2-3 months but there is no proof that this approach affects treatment; thus, MRI scans provide infrequent and retrospective, not predictive, information about the status of the patient’s GBM. We propose the refinement and pre-clinical validation of a pressure-sensing microfluidic ICP microsensor (mICP) that could be implanted in patients with GBM to detect elevated ICP early on; the mICP is small in size, low cost, MRI-safe, free of all electrical components with no mechanical parts, and it will provide a long-term, continuous, in-hospital and at-home approach to on-demand monitoring in GBM patients.