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Silicone rubber encapsulation for an endoscopically implantable gastrostimulator

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Abstract

Gastrointestinal stimulator implants have recently shown positive results in treating obesity. However, the implantation currently requires an invasive surgical procedure. Endoscopy could be used to place the gastric stimulator in the stomach, hence avoiding the riskier surgery. The implant then needs to go through the oesophagus and be located inside the stomach, which imposes new design constraints, such as miniaturization and protecting the electronic circuit against the highly acidic environment of the stomach. We propose to protect the implant by encapsulation with silicone rubber. This paper lists the advantages of this method compared to the more usual approach of a hermetic enclosure and then presents a method to evaluate the underwater adhesive stability of six adhesive/substrate couples, using repeated lap-shear tests and an elevated temperature to accelerate the ageing process. The results for different adhesive/substrate couples tested, presented on probability plots, show that FR4 and alumina substrates with MED4-4220 silicone rubber are suitable for a first implantable prototype. We then compare these with the predicted lifetimes of bonds between historical standard silicone rubber DC3140 and different substrates and describe the encapsulation of our gastrostimulator.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Bruno Tartini and Mr. Geoffrey Vanbienne for their contribution to the lap-shear tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Stimulation and Monitoring Research Group (BISTIMO), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, CP165/51, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Laurent Lonys, Nicolas Julémont, Pierre Mathys & Antoine Nonclercq

  2. Implanted Devices Group, Medical Physics and Bioengineering Department, UCL, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT, London, UK

    Anne Vanhoestenberghe

  3. Materials Engineering, Characterization, Synthesis and Recycling (4MAT), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, CP165/63, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Stéphane Godet & Marie-Paule Delplancke

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  1. Laurent Lonys
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  2. Anne Vanhoestenberghe
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  7. Antoine Nonclercq
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Correspondence to Laurent Lonys.

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Lonys, L., Vanhoestenberghe, A., Julémont, N. et al. Silicone rubber encapsulation for an endoscopically implantable gastrostimulator. Med Biol Eng Comput 53, 319–329 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-014-1236-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-014-1236-9

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