Making deep‐tissue monitoring clinically accessible with soft, biodegradable inductor–capacitor implants

Making deep-tissue monitoring clinically accessible with soft, biodegradable inductor-capacitor implantsPhysiological information obtained from deep tissues is essential for precision medicine, as it aids in postoperative assessment and enables timely diagnosis and treatment.For instance, elevated intracranial pressure after surgery may signal cerebral oedema or reduced compliance, while rising intra-abdominal pressure can impair perfusion or warn of compartment syndrome.Shifts in temperature or pH may indicate infection or leakage, and abnormal tissue strain can expose mechanical dysfunction.These local changes can precede overt systemic symptoms and influence whether clinicians intensify surveillance or initiate an intervention.Yet current clinical tools provide only intermittent or indirect access to such information.Medical imaging, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography and ultrasound, provides spatially resolved information on anatomy, lesion location and tissue structure, as well as metabolic activity or derived functional measures in selected modalities (Figure 1a).Although indispensable for diagnosis and treatment planning, most imaging examinations depend on specialised equipment and provide episodic snapshots rather than continuous measurements.In routine clinical practice, blood tests and laboratory analyses offer valuable systemic biomarkers.However, these methods are intermittent and lack the ability to continuously capture long-term, localised changes occurring inside deep organs or at surgical sites.Continuous access to such local physiology therefore remains an important unmet clinical need.Soft wireless implants offer a new route to continuously monitor deep physiological information.Passive inductor-capacitor (LC) sensors are particularly attractive for temporary implantation because they do not require an implanted battery.Pressure, temperature, strain or local chemical environment changes the resonant frequency of LC sensors, and an external reader can detect this frequency.The simple passive architecture of LC sensors is compatible with flexible and bioresorbable materials, enabling the implants to be designed to disappear after