Advances in Intraocular Pressure Biosensors: Sensing Mechanisms, System Integration, and Clinical Translation Challenges

As an emerging interdisciplinary technology, biosensors hold significant potential in the medical field. Among them, the wearable and implantable intraocular pressure (IOP) biosensors have significant progress. Abnormal IOP is associated with numerous diseases, particularly glaucoma, which imposes a heavy health and economic burden. IOP biosensors enable continuous monitoring, which is difficult to be achieved with conventional approaches. This review summarizes recent advancements in IOP biosensors, primarily over the last 5 years, and evaluates their potential for overcoming clinical translation challenges in continuous monitoring. Sensors based on various principles, including piezoresistive, electrical, optical, and microfluidic, are often placed at various anatomical sites such as the cornea, anterior chamber, and other intraocular regions to track IOP effectively. The improvements of smart IOP biosensors in fabrication, power supply, filtering, and anti-interference are discussed, with particular focus on the optimization from data measurement, transmission, reading, to processing and user application. The limitations of existing equipment and research in clinical translation are elaborated, and a balance between engineering and clinical aspects is still a critical issue. Furthermore, the growth of artificial intelligence and big data technologies is expected to provide a new path for IOP biosensors.