Scientists have created an implant that relieves all pain without drugs (VIDEO)

And it is absorbed by the body

The academic journal Science, which is considered one of the most prestigious in the world, having first been published in 1880, has just published an extremely interesting research. In particular, scientists from Northwestern University, based in Evanston, Illinois, United States, have succeeded in manufacturing an implant that is absorbed by the body and is able to relieve the user of all pain, without any painkillers or other drugs at all .

Elaborating, the research team created a tiny, flexible and bioabsorbable device that can be implanted in a patient to provide pain relief. The advantage is that no alternative pain medication is needed, which means that the patient does not have to worry about the side effects or other possible problems that may arise from the use of such drugs, since for example opioids have highly addictive properties.

So how exactly does this device work?

The implant gently wraps around the nerves and cools them, numbing them. Thus, pain signals are completely prevented from being sent to the brain and in fact the patient can adjust the intensity, with the device being able to provide more or less relief. The implant works with perfluoropentane, a liquid refrigerant that is released from a small channel and then mixed with nitrogen gas from a second channel. Mixing causes the perfluoropentane to evaporate, cooling the nearby nerve, while a built-in temperature sensor protects against potential harm to the patient by ensuring the nerve does not cool too much.

As the researchers of the team that created the device point out, it is bioabsorbable and dissolves with water, which means that when it is no longer needed, the body can absorb it and thus there is no need for a complicated surgical extraction procedure.

Below you can see a video showing it gradually disintegrating over time.

The research is titled ‘Soft, bioresorbable coolers for reversible conduction block of peripheral nerves’ and was published in Science on June 30, 2022. You can read it by clicking here.