ISSN: 2350-0328 International Journal of Advanced Research in Science, Engineering and Technology Vol. 5, Issue 2 , February 2018 Copyright to IJARSET www.ijarset.com 5258 Implantable Bio-MEMS for the treatment of Cancer Arshiya Anjum Khan, U.S. Tandon Research Student, Department of Computer Science& Information Technology, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad (M.S.), India Professor, Department of Physics, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprstha University, New Delhi, India ABSTRACT: Treatment of cancer has invoked technological forays that have been vying with each other and which were often supplanted by researchers with fresh and innovative approaches. Notable among these novel approaches is the Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technology, as it has established accomplishments in a variety of industrial areas. We are focusing on the therapeutic applicability of MEMS in biomedical arena, where they are called as Bio-Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (BioMEMS). We are presenting an analysis of the design, principle and performance of various BioMEMS devices and discuss the niche of their efficacy. We are emphasizing on the devices which could be implanted to deliver a single drug or a mixture of drugs in microlitre / nanolitre doses in a controlled timeframe. These BioMEMS are not meant to detect or diagnose but they offer a potential to treat malignancy and prevent the exposure of healthy cells from the severity of chemicals that could harm them. KEYWORDS: MEMS, BioMEMS, implantable devices, drug delivery, cancer. I.INTRODUCTION Cancer is a perilous disease, since it is often terminal. It is estimated that 2.5–3.0 million cancer cases exist in India. About 25% new cases are detected each year and up to 0.4 million patients die each year. Around 70 –80 % cases are detected at a late stage when the treatment is very difficult. Early detection of cancer may help in absolute cure of some cancer. In a human body, the normal cells divide and grow in an arranged manner. But the cancer cells grow out of control, keep growing and crowd out the normal cells. This uncontrolled division and growth of cells within the human body is the hallmark of cancer (carcinoma). Its treatment has frequently been attempted by using chemo- and radio- therapies. The former delivers drug unselectively to the entire body and the later irradiates the cancerous as well as the neighbouring normal cells. Both of these techniques of treatment result in an undesirable damage of the healthy tissues and also necessitate the repetition of doses, causing inconvenience as well as a psychological trauma to the patient. To undo these shortcomings, drug-filled pills that release their contents at a gradual rate were developed. The pill allowed curtailing the frequency of doses and it was considered a tenable alternate mode of drug delivery. But it lacked site- selectivity and dynamic micro-control of the volume of released drug. To resolve this quandary, a multi-disciplinary approach of research was started with an aim to develop safer and effective devices for the controlled delivery of drug at the site of carcinoma. Among the recently developed devices to treat cancer, the leading ones are the implantable devices, which deliver drugs in miniscule amounts at the site of the tumor. The stipulated drug delivery device ought to be tiny in size, must have bio-compatible casing, should store tiny amount of drug and respond to remote stimuli to release or hold its contents. The combination of such anticipated functionalities logically steer the direction of innovation towards the semiconductor micro-fabrication technology whose propelling emphasis is on similar parameters. The group of such emerging devices developed through the technology used in the fabrication of semiconductor microchips, are called Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) [1]. These tiny devices to treat cancer could be constituted through an assembly of few or more component sub-systems such as micropump, microvalve, microactuator, and microneedle. Their configuration could be controlled and actuated to deliver hormones, anti-cancer agents, and vaccines. In biological arena, these devices are called Bio-Micro-Electro-