DRUGAS: Implantable telemetric system for measuring the portal venous pressure: Assembly aspects

Developing an implantable, telemetric pressure measuring system for venous applications makes a high degree of miniaturization necessary. Thus the influence on the measurement environment is minimized and the risk of thrombosis at small flow blood velocities is decreased. But these systems are limited in terms of accuracy and resolution. The asked system requirements could only be reached by optimising the assembly and encapsulation techniques. To achieve the high degree of miniaturization numerical simulations were performed on the shape and size of the implant and led to the development of a specific metal housing consisting of two main components. A small measuring chamber will be placed into the portal vein and is rigidly fixed to a flat circular part that contains the pressure sensor chip and a transponder board and will be located outside on top of the vein. The main focus of the assembly process was based on a stress-free design and mounting of the components.