Not Just Skin Care with OLED? It Also Treats Internal Organs!

KAIST Develops Implantable Therapeutic Device
Confirms Treatment Effectiveness for Type 2 Diabetes

A technology has been developed that uses organic light-emitting diode (OLED) light, commonly used for skin care, to treat internal organs such as those affected by diabetes.

Schematic diagram and device of the light therapy process using an OLED catheter. Photo by KAIST

KAIST announced on the 13th that Professor Seunghyup Yoo of the Department of Electrical Engineering collaborated with Professor Dohyun Park of the Gastroenterology Department at Seoul Asan Medical Center and the Realistic Device Research Division of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) to implement the world’s first OLED-based catheter, opening the way to apply light therapy to internal organs. A catheter is a thin tube made of rubber or metal, mainly used to remove contents from a patient’s digestive tract, bronchi, or blood vessels, or to inject drugs or cleaning agents into the body.

The research team developed an OLED platform in the form of a catheter and created an OLED light therapy device that can be directly inserted into tubular organs such as the duodenum, confirming the potential to improve type 2 diabetes, one of the major adult diseases today.

First, they developed an ultrathin flexible OLED that is mechanically stable and operates well even in moist environments. They implemented an OLED catheter that emits uniform light in all directions by wrapping it around a cylindrical structure. Additionally, as a planar light source, the OLED’s unique low heat generation characteristic prevented tissue damage caused by heat during internal insertion, and the use of biocompatible materials minimized adverse effects on the body.

The research team conducted animal experiments on a type 2 diabetes mouse model using the OLED catheter platform. In the experimental group where a total of 798 millijoules (mJ) of light energy was delivered to the duodenum, a trend of decreased blood sugar and reduced insulin resistance was observed compared to the control group. Red light at 1.33 milliwatts was irradiated for 10 minutes (600 seconds), delivering a total of 798 mJ of light energy. They also confirmed other medical improvements such as the reduction of liver fibrosis. This is the world’s first result of performing light therapy by inserting OLED devices inside the body.

The research results were published online on the 1st in the international journal Science Advances (paper title: OLED catheters for inner-body phototherapy: A case of type 2 diabetes mellitus improved via duodenal photobiomodulation).

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