Biomedical Engineering Letters最新文献

{"title":"Advances in semiconductor materials and device architectures for biomedical systems: a mini review.","authors":"Basharat Hussain, Abid Ullah, Israr Ali, Sheraz Haider, Hyeuk Jin Han, Gangtae Jin","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00573-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13534-026-00573-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The latest improvements in semiconductor engineering have made it possible for the medical field to take advantage of the new capabilities of sensing, diagnosing, neural modulating, and monitoring therapeutics, among others. The merging of nanomaterials, microfabrication techniques, and flexible electronics have turned the traditional biomedical devices into smart systems that are extremely sensitive and minimally invasive. The article presents a review of the new semiconductor-based technologies in the field of biomedicine, focusing on material innovations, system-level integration, and clinical application pathways. Bio-integrated sensors, neuromodulation platforms, and semiconductor enabled point-of-care diagnostics are the areas that will be discussed during this mini review. A thorough analysis is done on the main challenges like long-term biocompatibility, signal stability in complex biological environments, and scalable manufacturing. Moreover, alternate directions, like soft implantable electronics, AI-integrated semiconductor biosystems, and high-density neural interfaces are discussed as potential future developments. This review is aimed at giving biomedical engineering researchers a clear but thorough view of the continuous reshaping of biomedical engineering by semiconductor innovations.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 3","pages":"663-680"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13129054/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147822136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Energy-efficient neural stimulation system design for implantable medical devices.","authors":"Joonghoon Kang, Kyeongho Eom, Han-Sol Lee, Hyun-Su Lee, Hyungjin Jung, Hojae Chon, Minkyung Ahn, Hyung-Min Lee","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00572-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-026-00572-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Implantable medical devices for neural stimulation have received great attention in biomedical applications to restore or modulate sensory and motor function. Many miniaturized implants rely on wireless power transfer, where deliverable power is limited and the on-chip supply becomes time-varying under coil misalignment and link activity. At the same time, wide electrode-tissue interface (ETI) variability complicates compliance, efficiency, and long-term charge balance, making a highly efficient and safe stimulator essential. This paper surveys neural stimulation architectures by organizing prior work into current-controlled stimulation (CCS), voltage-controlled stimulation (VCS), and switched-capacitor stimulation (SCS). For CCS and VCS, we discuss adaptive energy-delivery techniques that reduce headroom loss and monitoring/correction approaches that enforce charge safety under ETI variation. For SCS, we highlight charging-interface and residual-management strategies, as well as discharge-based stimulus families, that strongly influence end-to-end efficiency and stimulation efficacy under tight power budgets.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 3","pages":"653-662"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13129026/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147822156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of brain anisotropy on transcranial temporal interference stimulation: numerical analysis toward reliable montage optimization.","authors":"Kanata Yatsuda, Masaki Fukunaga, Wenwei Yu, Jose Gomez-Tames","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00575-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-026-00575-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transcranial temporal interference stimulation (TIS) is gaining attention as a non-invasive method for engaging deep brain regions. However, TIS-generated current flow to deep targets necessarily passes through highly anisotropic white-matter pathways, and the extent to which anisotropy alters interferential fields remains insufficiently quantified. This study systematically evaluates how anisotropic conductivity affects deep-brain interferential fields and influences TIS montage optimization. Subject-specific anatomical head models incorporating either anisotropic or isotropic conductivities were constructed. For the anisotropic condition, full conductivity tensors were derived from diffusion-weighted imaging for gray matter, white matter, and deep targets. Interferential fields were examined using Pareto-based optimization to compare montage selection between conductivity models. Anisotropy altered interferential field intensities by up to 18% in white matter and remained below 12% in deep targets. These differences resulted in a 50% divergence in optimized montages. When constraining focality and target-field differences to within 10%, montage agreement increased to nearly 90%. Anisotropic conductivities influence focality and field orientation and optimal montage selection. Nonetheless, under practical tolerance ranges for focality and target-field strength, optimized solutions converge across conductivity models. These results indicate that isotropic models can support routine TIS montage optimization when diffusion data are unavailable, while anisotropy remains essential for accurate deep-brain stimulation modeling.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13534-026-00575-y.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 4","pages":"1035-1046"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13476427/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148761842","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biodegradable capacitive sensors for biomedical applications: sensitivity and lifetime.","authors":"Minki Hong, Seunghun Han, Gilmo Kim, Jahyun Koo","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00570-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13534-026-00570-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biodegradable implantable and wearable biomedical sensors have attracted growing attention as a promising alternative to conventional permanent electronic devices, offering transient functionality that eliminates the need for secondary surgical removal and mitigates electronic waste accumulation. Among various sensing modalities, capacitive sensors have emerged as a particularly attractive platform for monitoring mechanically derived physiological signals owing to their structural simplicity, low power consumption, and compatibility with soft materials. Despite extensive academic progress, however, the clinical translation and commercialization of biodegradable capacitive sensors remain limited. A central challenge arises from the inherent trade-off between sensing sensitivity and operational lifetime. Structural and material modifications that enhance sensitivity often accelerate degradation, whereas strategies designed to prolong functional lifetime can compromise mechanical compliance and signal fidelity. Achieving a precise balance between these competing requirements is therefore critical for practical deployment in biomedical applications. In this review, we systematically examine biodegradable capacitive sensors with a focus on sensitivity enhancement and lifetime modulation as the two key determinants of device performance. We summarize design strategies for improving sensitivity through sensor architecture optimization and dielectric layer engineering, and we review encapsulation approaches for controlling degradation behavior and functional lifetime. By critically analyzing how these complementary strategies are selectively implemented to meet the distinct demands of wearable and implantable biomedical applications, this review provides practical design guidelines and highlights future research directions aimed at advancing biodegradable capacitive sensors toward clinical implementation and scalable manufacturing.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 3","pages":"627-641"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13129153/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147822197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enabling technologies for neural and biofluid interfaces: biocompatible materials with potential for neurodegenerative disease applications.","authors":"Nayoung Kim, Munjeong Lee, Jaewon Shin, Jongwon Kim, Arnab Pal, Ha Uk Chung","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00571-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-026-00571-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As global populations age, neurodegenerative diseases impose escalating clinical and economic burdens on healthcare systems worldwide. While gold-standard diagnostics-positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid assays-provide exceptional accuracy, they remain costly, invasive, and temporally limited in their monitoring capabilities. Wearable and minimally invasive biosensors emerge as complementary diagnostic modalities, offering unprecedented opportunities for earlier detection and continuous longitudinal monitoring. However, deployment in older adults presents significant challenges due to compromised skin integrity and diminished tissue resilience, necessitating optimized sensor-tissue interfaces that account for age-related physiological changes. This comprehensive review synthesizes recent advances across multiple biomaterial domains: soft elastomers and hydrogels that conform to aging tissue mechanics; sophisticated bioadhesive and antifouling coatings that maintain long-term stability; and innovative brain-based neural interfaces, skin-based biofluid sensors, and ocular implantable platforms enabling stable, low-irritation continuous monitoring. We systematically evaluate sensing modalities organized by anatomical location-brain, skin, and eye-analyzing their fundamental capabilities, usability in geriatric populations, and biomarker coverage potential. While these technologies demonstrate promising electrophysiology recording, neurochemical detection, and biofluid sampling capabilities essential for neurodegenerative disease monitoring, translation to clinical applications requires integration of disease-specific biomarker detection, rigorous validation in appropriate disease models, and demonstration of long-term stability under pathological conditions. This review provides a critical assessment of current capabilities and limitations, offering a roadmap toward clinically actionable diagnostic systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 4","pages":"883-902"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13476221/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148759846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advanced silicon nanomembrane based bioelectronics for flexible and stretchable implantable systems.","authors":"Junseok Lee, Yena Lee, Hanbi Woo, Minji Hong, Doohyun J Lee, Mingyu Sang","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00568-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13534-026-00568-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As the paradigm of modern medicine shifts toward prevention and management, the importance of implantable electronics for real-time physiological monitoring and therapeutic intervention has surged, yet the mechanical mismatch between conventional rigid devices and soft tissues poses significant challenges regarding inflammation and long-term performance. Consequently, this review hierarchically analyzes advanced semiconductor integration strategies for flexible and stretchable implantable systems, utilizing Silicon Nanomembrane (SiNM) technology as a core building block to achieve mechanical compliance while maintaining CMOS compatibility. We systematically examine flexible substrate processing and patterning techniques, including laser-induced graphene (LIG) and printing methods, and place special emphasis on conformal encapsulation strategies using inorganic/organic multilayer thin films to ensure miniaturization and reliability in harsh biological environments. Furthermore, the review covers system-level integration issues, including hierarchical wireless communication strategies tailored to implantation depth and hybrid energy harvesting technologies for battery-free operation, ultimately proposing that the organic integration of these elements is essential for realizing next-generation \"Fully Autonomous Bio-integrated Systems\".</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 3","pages":"607-626"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13129031/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147822191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Preparation and characterization of thermosensitive nerve conduits with tissue-specific decellularized matrix hydrogel.","authors":"Guobao Chen, Ao Yang, Shiyun Yin, Qi Liu, Hongrong Wu, Liping Wang","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00569-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-026-00569-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Decellularized nerve matrix gel is promising for neural tissue engineering but limited by rapid degradation and poor mechanical stability. This study develops a thermosensitive nerve conduit incorporated with rat decellularized nerve matrix (rDNM) sol. The rDNM sol, with low cellular content and retained extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, forms a gel at physiological temperature and pH. By varying the rDNM proportion, conduits with excellent elasticity, tubular structure, and improved degradation resistance were fabricated. These conduits possess a micro-rough surface favorable for cell adhesion. In vitro assays confirmed excellent cytocompatibility and promotion of cell growth. Subcutaneous implantation in rats demonstrated favorable histocompatibility, mild inflammatory response, and a pro-angiogenic effect. Consequently, this thermosensitive rDNM-based conduit exhibits suitable physicochemical and biological characteristics, making it a promising candidate for further evaluation in peripheral nerve repair applications and potentially broadening the application of decellularized matrix hydrogels in tissue engineering.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 4","pages":"1021-1034"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13476428/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148765197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Triple-level domain adaptation for bronchoscopic depth estimation with enhanced anatomical fidelity.","authors":"Jian Chen, Ali Shuaib, Zhitong Zuo, Xiaoyan Wang, Ya Guo","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00565-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-026-00565-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Monocular depth estimation is a key technology in bronchoscopy navigation systems, providing essential information for 3D reconstruction and precise localization. However, the limited availability of annotated data hinders the application of supervised learning methods for monocular depth estimation. To address this limitation, unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) has been introduced to leverage labeled source-domain data and improve target-domain performance. Existing single-level UDA methods can reduce domain discrepancies but often distort the spatial structure of bronchial lumens or fail to preserve fine-grained local details, diminishing both the anatomical fidelity and geometric consistency in the predicted depth maps. To overcome these challenges, we introduce triple-level domain adaptation for depth estimation (TriDADE), which unifies image-level adaptive Fourier domain adaptation, feature-level domain adaptation, and pixel-level discrimination with consistency constraints, to refine depth maps jointly. Experiments demonstrate that TriDADE achieves the lowest absolute relative error of 0.0971, surpassing even the intra-domain training performance, while improving depth prediction accuracy under the 1.25 threshold ([Formula: see text]) to 92%, significantly outperforming existing UDA methods. Qualitative results further elucidate the advantages of preserving bronchial lumen boundaries and fine anatomical details while producing smooth and geometrically consistent depth gradients. The proposed TriDADE framework effectively addresses the limitations of existing UDA methods, delivering substantial gains in both quantitative accuracy and anatomical fidelity. These improvements support the development of downstream clinical applications such as bronchoscopy navigation, 3D reconstruction, and precise diagnosis.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 4","pages":"993-1003"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13476386/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148763404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cfdd-net: a novel comprehensive featured-dual decoding network for melanoma segmentation in dermoscopic images.","authors":"Chaoqun Ma, Rongsheng Cui, Feng Liu, Huiying Wang","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00567-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-026-00567-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Precise dermoscopic image segmentation, which is challenging for complexity of lesion regions, is pivotal in skin melanoma diagnosis. In this paper, we introduce a novel Comprehensive Featured-Dual Decoding Network (CFDD-Net) with a dual-route decoding path to enhance the lesion segmentation performance on dermoscopic images. In the proposed network, the cascaded dilated convolution (CDC), dilated convolution dual attention (DCDA) and dual wavelet dilated convolution (DWDC) blocks are specifically designed in the skip connections in addition to the atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) block for the exploration and transmission of the multi-scale features. Meanwhile, the X-shape blocks are novelly proposed to thoroughly fuse the multi-scale features across the two decoding routes. The performance of CFDD-Net is thoroughly evaluated and is proved superior to the state-of-the-art methods, with Dice reaching 92.33%, 91.72% and 94.82%, mean Intersection-over-Union (mIoU) reaching 86.06%, 85.78% and 90.33%, and Average Symmetric Surface Distance (ASSD) reaching 0.54 pix, 0.55 pix, 0.26 pix on three public skin melanoma region segmentation datasets, ISIC-2018, ISIC-2017 and ISIC-2016, through experiments, respectively. Compared to the state-of-the-art methods, the CFDD-Net provides improved segmentation performance, and thus, may help dermatologists to provide accurate lesion segmentation in clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 4","pages":"1005-1019"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13476186/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148762169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advances in functional composite hydrogels for the treatment of degenerative arthritis.","authors":"Jong Won Lee, Ji Won Lee, Ho Jun Shin, Jinhong Park, Sung-Hyuk Sunwoo, Dong Chan Kim, Hyun-Do Jung, Soo-Hong Lee, Gi Doo Cha","doi":"10.1007/s13534-026-00566-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13534-026-00566-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that presents an increasing public health burden as global populations age. Current pharmacologic treatments, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and glucocorticoids, primarily alleviate symptoms but fail to prevent structural degeneration. To address this therapeutic gap, biomaterial-based tissue scaffolds have been developed to provide mechanical support while delivering therapeutic signals. Conventional scaffolds composed of bioceramics or polymers provide mechanical strength and stability but suffer from poor biocompatibility, limited processability, and inadequate integration with native cartilage. Hydrogels have emerged as promising alternatives owing to their extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking properties, biocompatibility, and injectability. However, pristine hydrogels often suffer from insufficient mechanical strength and rapid degradation, limiting their long-term effectiveness. Composite hydrogels, including cell-laden or nanocomposite systems, have been explored to address these limitations. Although these strategies could enhance regeneration, mechanical integrity, or drug delivery, each approach alone remains insufficient for comprehensive OA treatment. Recent advances in cell-nanocomposite hydrogels, which integrate therapeutic cells and nanoparticles within a hydrogel matrix, offer synergistic improvements across regeneration, controlled drug delivery, and mechanical support. These systems can also enhance cell viability and differentiation through growth factor-mediated signaling, thereby supporting superior cartilage regeneration. This review traces the evolution of functional composite hydrogels for OA treatment, detailing their design strategies and therapeutic potential. It also outlines the current challenges and future directions for translating cell-nanocomposite hydrogels into clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":46898,"journal":{"name":"Biomedical Engineering Letters","volume":"16 2","pages":"353-368"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13013759/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147522098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}