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Individuals with amputation often experience phantom limb pain, a painful sensation that they perceive in their missing limb. While this pain has been described for centuries, researchers from the Uniformed Services University (USU) and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) may now have a new tool to help treat this phenomenon.
The device, known as the wearable thin-film thermoelectric cooler (TFTEC), is one of the world’s smallest, most intense and fastest refrigeration devices, designed to help return “cold” sensation to the residual limbs of those with amputation. It’s one of the first of its kind, and can be used for a variety of applications, not only to enhance prosthetics (artificial limbs), but also to develop new methods of augmented reality and new temperature-controlled treatments to help with pain relief. In addition to its potential therapeutic value, this technology also has the potential to be used in cooling electronics and energy harvesting in satellites.
Researchers from the APL began developing these advanced thin-film thermoelectric materials in 2016 for another project called Controlled Hierarchically Engineered Superlattice Structures (CHESS). Since these materials were proving to be successful, by 2019 they were applying them to other capabilities to support the Department of Defense, like cooling computer chips and engine components. They then decided to test this technology to see if it could help individuals with amputations to feel temperature in their phantom or residual limbs, with the ultimate goal of mitigating pain or improving sensory feedback from artificial limbs. They brought in researchers from USU’s Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research (CRSR) in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) to help create the TFTEC.
The device, a little more than one millimeter thick, weighs only 0.05 grams. Similar to a small bandage, it provides intense cooling in less than a second. After extensively testing the device for such sensory applications, including injured service members with amputation, they recently published their results in Nature Biomedical Engineering on July 27. The study indicates that the device elicited cooling sensations in phantom limbs in all of its participants during a “cold detection task,” whereas other technologies were only able to help detect temperature in half of the participants – and the TFTEC did so eight times faster and with three times the intensity. The TFTEC also used only half the amount of energy, compared to other thermoelectric devices that are currently being used.
“This groundbreaking development opens the door to a wide array of new capabilities, especially for individuals with amputation, including our wounded warriors,” said Dr. Paul Pasquina, chair of PM&R at USU.
He explained that individuals with limb loss often retain the sensory nerves that went with their missing limb, which offers the opportunity to restore sensation. While experiments to date have looked at restoring sensory modalities, such as vibration and or electrical stimulation, this is the first to transmit the sensation of cold.
The device, known as the wearable thin-film thermoelectric cooler (TFTEC), is one of the world’s smallest, most intense and fastest refrigeration devices, designed to help return “cold” sensation to the residual limbs of those with amputation. It’s one of the first of its kind, and can be used for a variety of applications, not only to enhance prosthetics (artificial limbs), but also to develop new methods of augmented reality and new temperature-controlled treatments to help with pain relief. In addition to its potential therapeutic value, this technology also has the potential to be used in cooling electronics and energy harvesting in satellites.
Researchers from the APL began developing these advanced thin-film thermoelectric materials in 2016 for another project called Controlled Hierarchically Engineered Superlattice Structures (CHESS). Since these materials were proving to be successful, by 2019 they were applying them to other capabilities to support the Department of Defense, like cooling computer chips and engine components. They then decided to test this technology to see if it could help individuals with amputations to feel temperature in their phantom or residual limbs, with the ultimate goal of mitigating pain or improving sensory feedback from artificial limbs. They brought in researchers from USU’s Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research (CRSR) in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) to help create the TFTEC.
The device, a little more than one millimeter thick, weighs only 0.05 grams. Similar to a small bandage, it provides intense cooling in less than a second. After extensively testing the device for such sensory applications, including injured service members with amputation, they recently published their results in Nature Biomedical Engineering on July 27. The study indicates that the device elicited cooling sensations in phantom limbs in all of its participants during a “cold detection task,” whereas other technologies were only able to help detect temperature in half of the participants – and the TFTEC did so eight times faster and with three times the intensity. The TFTEC also used only half the amount of energy, compared to other thermoelectric devices that are currently being used.
“This groundbreaking development opens the door to a wide array of new capabilities, especially for individuals with amputation, including our wounded warriors,” said Dr. Paul Pasquina, chair of PM&R at USU.
He explained that individuals with limb loss often retain the sensory nerves that went with their missing limb, which offers the opportunity to restore sensation. While experiments to date have looked at restoring sensory modalities, such as vibration and or electrical stimulation, this is the first to transmit the sensation of cold.
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 08.03.2023 07:57 |
| Story ID: | 450582 |
| Location: | MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 166 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, New Wearable, Thin-film Device Helps Patients Feel Temperature in Their Amputated Limbs, by Sarah Marshall, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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