Original story from the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China). A new, implantable, ultrasound-based blood pressure monitoring system represents a promising alternative to conventional tools for continuous, unobtrusive blood pressure measurement. Accurate, continuous blood pressure (BP) monitoring is essential for preventing cardiovascular events, yet conventional cuffs and wearable sensors often suffer from discomfort, motion interference and poor alignment. This study, led by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley (CA, USA), demonstrates a minimally invasive, subcutaneously implanted ultrasonic device capable of capturing real-time arterial diameter changes to derive precise BP values. Using a compact array of aluminum-nitride piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs), the system detects echo signals from both arterial walls to reconstruct full BP waveforms. In vitro and in vivo tests – including implantation in an ambulatory sheep – show that the device achieves clinically acceptable errors of less than 3 mmHg. The findings highlight a promising path toward long-term, comfortable BP monitoring for hypertension management. Hypertension remains one of the world’s leading causes of heart disease, stroke and premature mortality. Although regular blood pressure tracking can significantly reduce cardiovascular risks, traditional cuff-based measurements disrupt daily activity and are unsuitable for continuous monitoring. Alternatives such as photoplethysmography and wearable ultrasound patches attempt to address these limitations but often struggle with shallow penetration depth, dependence on gels and significant sensitivity to misalignment or motion. Implantable sensors have emerged as a potential solution, yet many require intrusive placement inside arteries or suffer from foreign-body reactions at the…
