Imagine living with a life-sustaining medical device that has a failure rate of 50 percent over two years. Imagine also that there was no way of telling when it was going to fail, except to wait for symptoms to appear. This is the reality for people who need a shunt, a device used by people with hydrocephalus that manages the build-up of excess fluid around the brain. Shunts have the highest failure rate of any medical device, and shunt failure symptoms – headaches, irritability, vomiting – are all common and non-specific in children, forcing parents to constantly rush to the hospital every time they suspect shunt failure.

In this talk, Professor Simon Malpas will discuss how he and his team have developed the first fully implantable brain pressure sensor. The sensor heralds a new era of medical devices by allowing people with chronic health conditions to self-monitor their physiology at home – changing care from reactive to proactive. Join us to hear a story about innovation in New Zealand and for a discussion on how we can do more.