Programmable medicine: Autonomous, ingestible, deployable hydrogel patch and plug for stomach ulcer therapy

Gastric ulcer is a chronic and complex (and often complete) erosion of the stomach wall that happens as a complication of a previous chronic, inflammatory process. It represents a catastrophic situation in which the patient is critical and its conditions need to be treated fast. This study presents a remotely navigatable and deployable ingestible patch and plug for gastric ulcer treatment. The patch/plug structure is made of agarose hydrogel that can change rigidity through hydration and dehydration. When dehydrated, it is rigid and can maintain a folded configuration so it can be ingested as a “pill”. This can be guided to the targeted location by a magnetic field, and be deployed instantly by hydration, namely by supplying water from the mouth. Due to the deployable origami design, it exhibits an expansion of 10 times its initial surface area, making the device suitable for the use of dressing a surface as a patch, and filling a hole as a plug.