Confined to their hospital beds, patients can only fantasize about stripping off all the wires that connect them to monitors and bolting for the door.
Suppose, however, that all of a convalescent patient’s electrode patches were consolidated into a single, nearly invisible and weightless version ”” as thin as a temporary, press-on tattoo. And suppose that a tiny radio transmitter eliminated the need for any wires tethering the patient to monitoring machines.
“Epidermal electronics” ”” a term coined by researchers who have produced prototype devices at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ”” may enable constant medical monitoring anywhere.