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Smart Bandages Designed to Monitor and Tailor Treatment for Chronic Wounds

posted by mrpg on Thursday July 19 2018, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the now-it-looks-like-the-21st-century dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

From Tufts University:

[...] "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?

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @12:30AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @12:30AM (#709702)

    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.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by choose another one on Friday July 20 2018, @07:55AM

    by choose another one (515) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 20 2018, @07:55AM (#709832)

    > 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

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday July 20 2018, @03:02PM (#709951) Journal

    Use a pattern that hides stains. Furniture has had those for ages.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.