Biohacking ‘Biohacking’ refers to an increasingly popular, extreme form of body modification, in which hardware is implanted into the body to facilitate a specific technological function. Following a motorcycle accident, trauma radiographs revealed a tiny subcutaneous magnet implanted in the palmar surface of a patient’s right hand (Fig. 1), intended to activate a yet to be implanted LED cluster on the opposite hand (Fig. 2). As well as causing some clinical confusion as to its provenance, we were uncertain about the clinical significance of such devices: are they diathermy and MRI compatible, and might they affect wound-healing or postoperative infection following open reduction and internal fixation of the adjacent fractured metacarpal?

Biohacking involves implanting hardware into the body to facilitate specific technological functions, but its clinical significance remains unclear.

Paper

Biohacking

References

Citations