Novel Microfluidics-Enabled Soft Robotic Sleeve Enables Lymphedema Treatment.
Breast cancer survivors commonly suffer from lymphedema due to a high risk of lymph node damage or removal during surgical procedures.
In order to overcome these issues, a soft robotic sleeve was created by a team consisting of the investigators from the University of Waterloo’s Microfluidics Laboratory, DIESEL Biomechanics Laboratory, Breast Rehab, and Myant, Inc.
The prototype is more portable and cheaper than traditional devices - with a weight that is less than an iPhone 13, it could run on a 3.7-volt lithium-ion battery.
“My definition of wearable is you can wear it and do whatever you want, and not be plugged into a wall. Bringing in the microfluidics field, we wanted to make the system battery-powered but without compromising the performance" Carolyn Ren, Study Author, University of Waterloo. Read more about the lymphedema sleeve here.