Smart bandages trigger drug delivery to boost healing

Researchers have developed an intelligent bandage that monitors the condition of the wound and develops the drug effectively

Bandages are usually a post-treatment therapy that exerts its effect only on firm blood wounds, prevents infection and keeps the area clean during treatment.

However, the prototype is designed to show that bandages can be converted from passive treatment options to active treatment options - by introducing sensors that monitor wounds in real time

According to the team, a chronic wound that refuses to heal is a problem that causes the US economy to lose $ 28 billion a year.

These types of injuries include burns, burns, skin damage due to diabetes, and other symptoms that impair the healing power of the skin - in the worst case cutting will occur.

The dressing includes an integrated sensor capable of detecting the pH of the wound and whether the wound heals. PH levels in the range of 5 to 5 indicate cure and pH levels above 5 indicate infection

The data collected by the sensor is read by the microprocessor. If the recording of pH and temperature indicates that the healing is not smooth, the drug carrier incorporated in the gel may release the drug to promote recovery.

The team stated that this device is not expensive; all parts except reusable microprocessors are specially selected to ensure that the bandages are cheap and disposable.

Sameer Sonkusale, professor of electrical engineering and computer engineering at the Tufts University Faculty of Engineering, says: research. "People can imagine embedding other sensory components, drugs and growth factors to treat different conditions depending on different treatment markers."

Smart dressings have been tested in vitro under laboratory conditions and ongoing preclinical studies.

In addition, Sonkusale and his team developed a flexible oxygenation sensor that can be integrated into a bandage to provide additional treatment markers.

This research is published in the journal Small in academic journals and has received support from the National Science Foundation, the Naval Laboratory Young Researcher Award, the ONR PECASE Award, and the National Institutes of Health.

Sameer Sonkusale, engineering professor at Tufts, the leader of the project, says: As lifestyle diseases such as obesity and heart disease increase, healing of chronic wounds also increases. The predicted speed is healed. A disorderly stage. Chronic wounds are a challenge for physicians and it is necessary to ascertain the root cause of chronic illness while monitoring and treating wounds to avoid infection.

The integration of pH and temperature sensor makes the dress very "smart". pH is an important factor in monitoring the healing process of chronic wounds. The pH of normal healing wounds ranges from 5.5 to 6.5, but the pH of uncured infected wounds is greater than 6.5. In addition, body temperature is an excellent indicator of inflammation in the wound and around the wound. Sensor in this bandage will help monitor these situations

Bandages are a culmination of more than six years of work at Tufts University and other higher education institutions, creating a sensor to show the extent and other aspects of wound healing, and a bandage containing sensors to demonstrate the drug delivery mechanism - All form factors are flexible enough to wrap the wound. "Chronic wounds are biologically complex systems.In order to monitor the healing of wounds it is necessary to bring the bandage interface closely to the wound.At the same time, is there a way to teach Sameer of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tufts University I want to know about it Sonkusale tells ZDNet to intervene at the right time to promote wound healing