Berthier J., Rivera F., Caillat P., Berger F.
CEA-LETI, FR
Keywords: drug delivery, inverse problem, microfluidics, microneedle
In medical treatment, there is a constant need to deliver active molecules into targeted cells, but this dispense is often difficult and time consuming. For example, in cancerology, it has been shown that active molecules delivery to tumoral cells for a 1cm wide tumor takes more than 48 hours and that an incomplete delivery leads to the re-growth of the tumor in a few days. It is thus extremely important that all cells in a tumor are concerned by the diffusion and subsequent uptake of the injected molecules. In order to improve the speed of dispense and its efficiency, a special injection needle has been designed. This micro-needle has a central channel and presents side exits uniformly distributed on the sides. The advantages of this type of needle is that drug delivery starts from all side exits disposed along the needle tip. If we want the best possible efficiency of the micro-needle, all side exits should have the same flow rate. We produce here an inverse algorithm for the dimensioning of such a needle, based on a lumped model approach. We verify that it is numerically consistent with SABER direct calculation. Moreover we show that the micro-fabrication of the needle meets the drug delivery requirements.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Technical Proceedings of the 2005 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 1
Published: May 8, 2005
Pages: 652 - 655
Industry sectors: Medical & Biotech | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Micro & Bio Fluidics, Lab-on-Chip
ISBN: 0-9767985-0-6