Body Implants, Medical

Body implants can be classified as a subset of medical devices. Specifically, an implant is a human-made medical device that functions inside the human body. In modern medicine, body implants serve at least one of the following three purposes: diagnosis, prosthesis, and therapy. In diagnosis, an implant monitors a physiological variable (e.g., blood glucose) and transmits the acquired signal to the outside of the human body. In prosthesis, an implant replaces a lost organ (e.g., a tooth) or a natural biological function (e.g., hearing) due to a disease or an injury. In therapy, an implant delivers a therapeutic agent such as a drug, radiation, or electric stimulation, to an appropriate tissue (e.g., neural tissue) or fluid (e.g., blood stream) within the body.

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