Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Cardiac Monitoring Devices : A Case Study

Abstract: Current cardiac monitoring devices are rigid, bulky, and integrate poorly with the human skin, obstructing health monitoring for longer periods. With the miniaturization of electronics, soft and stretchable polymer substrate-based cardiac monitoring device is being developed at Mycronic AB to overcome the aforementioned issues and replacing the traditional rigid electronics-based cardiac monitoring devices. Manufacturing of stretchable cardiac monitoring device includes new materials and manufacturing techniques as well as different end-of-life treatments. The sustainability of this kind of stretchable device is often enquired by curious customers and environment enthusiasts. Without a comprehensive scientific study on the environmental performance of this device, it is difficult for the manufacturer to answer such inquiries. Hence, this study aims to carry out a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of rigid and stretchable cardiac monitoring devices. The LCA for both the devices was based on ISO 14044:2006 standards. The impact assessment method used was ReCiPe 2016 (Hierarchist). The LCA results showed that the stretchable cardiac monitor had significantly lower impacts than its rigid counterpart. Lower usage of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in the stretchable device was the main reason for its better environmental performance. The PCB was identified as the major environmental hotspot in both the devices.