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[...] "We've been able to take a new approach to bandages because of the emergence of flexible electronics," said Sameer Sonkusale, Ph.D. professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts University's School of Engineering and corresponding co-author for the study. "In fact, flexible electronics have made many wearable medical devices possible, but bandages have changed little since the beginnings of medicine. We are simply applying modern technology to an ancient art in the hopes of improving outcomes for an intractable problem."
The pH of a chronic wound is one of the key parameters for monitoring its progress. Normal healing wounds fall within the range of pH 5.5 to 6.5, whereas non-healing infected wounds can have pH well above 6.5. Temperature is also an important parameter, providing information on the level of inflammation in and around the wound. While the smart bandages in this study combine pH and temperature sensors, Sonkusale and his team of engineers have also developed flexible sensors for oxygenation – another marker of healing – which can be integrated into the bandage. Inflammation could also be tracked not just by heat, but by specific biomarkers as well.
Could smart bandages be re-usable?
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday July 19 2018, @07:00PM (7 children)
Dunno about you, but whenever I've changed a bandage the old one was a festering mess of blood, pus, and $diety knows what.
Reuse? Not likely.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 20 2018, @12:04AM (6 children)
So what's the big deal? Just rinse it off in nearby stream and put it back on. You moderns with your "sanitation", "antibiotics", and "sterile bandages". Just a bunch of nonsense that prevents the weak and unfortunate from being purged from the gene pool.
In all seriousness though, if it can survive an autoclave it should be fine - it might look disgusting, but unless there's a lot of toxic compounds in the stains that doesn't actually matter.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday July 20 2018, @12:27AM (2 children)
If it can survive in an autoclave, it's not likely to be electronics. Also, autoclaves seem to have pretty much disappeared.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 20 2018, @01:53AM (1 child)
What do you mean? Plenty of electronics can handle extreme temperature, pressure, and humidity - just not common consumer electronics, because why would they? Such capabilities usually comes at a price, and very few people run their electronics through an autoclave, undersea vent, etc.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 20 2018, @03:01PM
If you can immerse the bandage in a sterilizing solution, then you could re-use it. If you could refill its reservoirs of medication, you could re-use it many times.
The trick is to stop calling it a bandage, and call it a "healing sleeve" or something. It would be like the Ace bandage you keep in the medicine cabinet to wrap your ankle or knee whenever you strain it. Get a cut on your arm? Put the healing sleeve on and go about your day. You could even put piezoelectric components or motion-capture [vanderbilt.edu] to help power the thing as you go about your day.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @12:30AM (2 children)
Wrong! Say a millennial goes in for gender reassignment surgery and then in the recovery room sees a bunch of stains on their re-used bandage. No amount of "the stains don't really matter" talk from you is going to keep that millennial from running to the nearest safe space.
(Score: 3, Informative) by choose another one on Friday July 20 2018, @07:55AM
> goes in for gender reassignment surgery and then in the recovery room [...] is going to keep that millennial from running to the nearest safe space.
Pretty sure that being in the recovery room after gender reassignment surgery is going to be enough to keep you from running anywhere...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 20 2018, @03:02PM
Use a pattern that hides stains. Furniture has had those for ages.
Washington DC delenda est.