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What Is Bioelectronic Medicine?

Bioelectronic medicine is one of the most innovative and exciting fields in healthcare, with the potential to transform diagnosis and care for millions of people suffering from a range of diseases. These treatments can provide important advantages, harnessing the body’s own natural mechanisms to address the core causes of disease and deliver advances in areas of unmet need.

 
“Bioelectronic medicine today reminds me of the early years of the biotech and computer networking industries, when few recognized the long-term potential for solving unmet needs and changing people’s lives. Bioelectronic medicine is similarly poised to produce some of the most important innovations of our time—if we can continue to grow a dynamic ecosystem for research, investment, and scientific progress.”
— Ken Londoner, Founder, CEO, and Chairman BioSig Technologies, Inc.
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SUBFIELDS OF BIOELECTRONIC MEDICINE

 

The major subfields of bioelectronic medicine include cardiac rhythm management, cochlear and retinal implants, and neuromodulation, which comprises applications in the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

 
“Bioelectronic medicine is a fascinating, under-recognized field. People still equate bioelectronic medicine with pacemakers—they haven’t even heard of something like vagus nerve stimulation. There needs to be broader understanding of the whole system, which requires working across disciplines.”
— Dr. Soeren Mattke, Director Center for Improving Chronic Illness Care University of Southern California

Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM)

  • CRM: Pacemakers and devices that monitor and regulate heart rhythm to treats bradycardia, tachycardia and heart failure

  • Electrophysiology: Catheter-based treatments for cardiac arrythmias like atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia

Cochlear and Retinal Implants

  • Cochlear Implants: Implants that capture, digitize, and transmit sound to treat hearing loss or impairment

  • Retinal Implants: Implants that capture, digitize, and transmit visual information to treat retinal degenerative diseases

Central Nervous System (CNS)

  • Spinal Cord Stimulation: Devices that stimulate specific nerve fibers in the spinal cord to treat chronic pain

  • Deep Brain Stimulation: Devices that stimulate regions in the brain to address neurological conditions like epilepsy, Parkinson's, major depressive disorder, OCD, or PTSD

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

  • Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Devices that stimulate specific areas of the vagus nerve, the body's "neural highway," to address conditions like arthritis, migraine, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity and heart failure

  • Sacral Nerve Stimulation: Devices that stimulate the sacral nerve to manipulate the bladder or sphincter; treats conditions like overactive bladder and urinary incontinence

Sources: Bioelectronic Medicine 2019-2029, IDTechEx, November 2018; Emerging Bioelectronic Medicine & Neurostimulation Technologies Growing & Disrupting Medical Device Markets, Health Research International, February 2018