Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42665587›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Wireless IoT-enabled microneedle electroceutical for personalized and connected pain management.

Heesoo Kim, Se Kyun Bang, Suk-Yun Kang, Sung Woo Kim, Jae-Soon Yang, Daehyuk Kim, Choong Yeon Kim, Sangeun Han, Yeji Jang, Juhyun Lee and 4 more

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Heesoo Kim *School of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Se Kyun Bang *Korean Convergence Medical Science, Korea University of Science & Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2970-500X
Suk-Yun KangKorean Medicine Data Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Sung Woo KimSchool of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Jae-Soon YangSchool of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3198-9021
Daehyuk KimKorean Medicine Data Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Choong Yeon KimSchool of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0674-7215
Sangeun HanKorean Convergence Medical Science, Korea University of Science & Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4861-5808
Yeji JangSchool of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Juhyun LeeSchool of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3913-3332
Karen-Christian AgnoDepartment of Electrical Engineering, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Los Baños, Philippines.
Jun-Bo YoonSchool of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9447-3807
Sanghun LeeKorean Convergence Medical Science, Korea University of Science & Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea. ezhani@kiom.re.kr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7124-6874
Jae-Woong JeongSchool of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea. jjeong1@kaist.ac.kr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7607-5453

Funding

National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) RS-2022-NR067853National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) RS-2025-02218624
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Chronic pain has historically been managed with pharmacological therapies, including opioids that provide potent analgesia, but their sustainability is limited by dose-dependent risks of misuse, addiction, and overdose. Electroceuticals offer a non-pharmacologic alternative by modulating neural pathways through electrical stimulation, but current invasive systems require surgery and clinical supervision, whereas non-invasive devices suffer from poor therapeutic efficacy caused by unstable skin-electrode impedance. Here, we present a thermoresponsive, electrically conductive adhesive microneedle (TEAM) electroceutical that integrates low-impedance microneedle arrays and conductive hydrogel coatings within a compact wireless platform enabling IoT-based telemedicine for safe, remotely managed pain therapy with robust therapeutic outcomes. Experimental and analytical results demonstrate that TEAM improves charge injection efficiency and neural activation while maintaining electrical and thermal safety. The device achieves superior analgesic efficacy compared to conventional gel-based transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in preclinical models, with performance comparable to pharmacological analgesics. IoT-enabled demonstrations further validate the feasibility of remote and scheduled therapy, as well as proof-of-concept automatically triggered neuromodulation guided by physiological pain-induced stress markers in human subjects. TEAM provides a foundation for scalable electroceutical therapy and holds promise for future preclinical-to-clinical translation toward real-world digital pain management.

Indexed as

Chronic PainPain ManagementTranscutaneous Electric Nerve StimulationWireless TechnologyAnalgesicsAnimalsFemaleHumansMaleMicroneedle Drug DeliveryPrecision MedicineTelemedicineAnalgesics

Identifiers

PMID42665587
PMCPMC13524932

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.