Engineers from the University of California, San Diego, USA have developed an electronic patch that can monitor biological molecules in deep tissues, including hemoglobin. This provides medical professionals with an unprecedented way to obtain key information, which can help find life-threatening diseases, such as malignant tumors, organ dysfunction, cerebral hemorrhage or intestinal bleeding. The research results were published in the journal Nature Communication on the 15th. Researchers say the amount and location of hemoglobin in the body provide key information about blood perfusion or accumulation at specific locations. Low blood perfusion in the body or serious organ dysfunction, which is related to heart attack and limb vascular disease; The abnormal hematocele in the brain, abdomen or cyst may indicate cerebral hemorrhage, visceral hemorrhage or malignant tumor. Continuous monitoring can help diagnose these conditions and facilitate timely life-saving interventions. This new, flexible and compact wearable patch can be comfortably attached to the skin for non-invasive long-term monitoring. It can conduct three-dimensional mapping of hemoglobin in deep tissue with submillimeter spatial resolution, accurate to a few centimeters below the skin, while other wearable electrochemical devices can only perceive biomolecules on the skin surface. It can also achieve high contrast with other organizations. Because of its optical selectivity, it can expand the range of detectable molecules and potential clinical applications by integrating different laser diodes with different wavelengths. The patch is equipped with a laser diode array and a piezoelectric transducer in its soft silicone polymer matrix. The laser diode emits pulsed laser into the tissue. The biomolecules in the tissue absorb the light energy and radiate the acoustic wave into the surrounding medium. The piezoelectric transducer receives the acoustic wave, which is processed in the electrical system to reconstruct the spatial mapping of the wave emitting biomolecules. In view of its low power laser pulse, it is also much safer than the X-ray technology with ionizing radiation. The research team plans to further develop the device, including reducing the back-end control system to a portable device for laser diode driving and data acquisition, so as to greatly expand its flexibility and potential clinical practicability. The editor in chief punctuates life threatening diseases that often progress very quickly. But before the irreversible situation occurs, is there a special period of time when you can "ring the alarm bell"? Research shows that continuous monitoring of deep hemoglobin can play this role. The new equipment in this paper, using a very simple patch method, has played a huge potential in closely monitoring high-risk groups. In the future, this electrochemical based device can also be used for monitoring more biomolecules, and is a good candidate for long-term wearable monitoring applications. (Outlook New Times)