Subcutaneous Remote Auto-Injector for Smartwatch Monitored Anaphylaxis

Youssef Kotb, Dina Khattab, Omar Ibrahim, Amir Haroun, Fares Fawzi, Mohamed Serry

Abstract: We propose an IoT-enabled miniaturized remote auto-injector supported by smartwatch health monitoring for the emergency medical treatment of allergy-induced anaphylaxis patients. A smartwatch monitors the patient's vital biomarker data (heart rate, oxygen saturation, and fall detection), which are sent in real-time to a local server or cloud. Upon identification of the risk of anaphylaxis, the auto-injector device worn by the patient is actuated wirelessly to instantly inject an epinephrine emergency dose to save the patient's life by restoring cardiac rhythm and controlling mucosal congestion, glaucoma, and asthma. In the meantime, a physician or care provider can monitor the patient's status in real-time. The auto-injector consists of two shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators injecting and retracting a subcutaneous injection needle and connected to an in-house developed micropump loaded with epinephrine. The system's response time is 3 seconds, whereas the needle penetration and drug injection are completed in 15 seconds. Epinephrine dosage can be injected at a maximum flow rate of 2524 $\boldsymbol{\mu} \mathbf{l}/ \boldsymbol{\min}$ against a maximum of 14 kPa backpressure. The system features a novel feature by retracting the needle immediately after the injection to avoid the patient's injury. Furthermore, the SMA actuation force and system package can be adapted for instant intramuscular injection; meanwhile, the needle retraction feature prevents skin and muscle injury.