Monitoring how wounds heal is more tricky than it seems. Doctors usually do this by removing the bandage and checking the moisture of the wound, but this is problematic because it can also interfere with the healing process. Now, in a new study, researchers have proposed a new type of "smart bandage" with sensors that can check the condition of the wound.
Wound healing is the physiological process of self-repair of damaged tissues. If it is destroyed, the wound will enter an inflammatory state and then become chronic inflammation. The healing process also depends on several factors, the most relevant is the moisture content-if it is too high or too low it will change the recovery of the wound-and removing the bandage can do this. But with the sensor, you may not need to remove the bandage to check the wound.
Miniature wearable sensors and readers have been developed to monitor sweat, tears or saliva, but there are few studies on wounds. Due to the wide range and challenges of wounds, most common sensors cannot be used in wounds, so new methods should have been adopted long ago.
"We have developed a series of bandages with different layers and different absorption properties and characteristics," said co-author Luca Possanzini of the University of Bologna. "The idea is that every type of wound can have its own suitable dressing, from wounds with slow oozing to wounds with a lot of oozing, such as blisters."
The new bandage developed by researchers from Possanzini and the University of Bologna has a set of sensors that can read the moisture content and then transmit the data to an app on a smartphone. The doctor then uses this information to understand whether the wound has healed normally without having to untie the bandage.
This technology may change the way doctors monitor wounds-although it is currently only a prototype. Researchers haven't said when it will be launched or how much it will cost. But they explained that it would be low-cost and one-off because they chose cheap materials to design it.
The bandage has a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, which is the same size as a grain of rice, and has been used for contactless cards. The researchers applied a conductive polymer called PEDOT:PSS to two different types of gauze, gauze rayon and gauze PET. Gauze is a thin, transparent fabric wrapped around the wound.
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"PEDOT:PSS is an organic semiconducting polymer that can be easily deposited on a variety of substrates as a standard ink," said Marta Tessarolo, co-author of the study. "We have also added a cheap, disposable, and bandage-compatible RFID tag to the textile patch, similar to the tags used for clothing security labels. Tan can communicate moisture content wirelessly."
The researchers tested the bandage by exposing it to artificial exudate (liquid that oozes from the wound), and also tested different materials and shapes. In fact, bandages are very sensitive and provide different readings under wet, dry and saturated conditions. This shows that it will become a good ally for doctors in the near future.
The research was published in the "Frontier" magazine.
Fermin Koop is a journalist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a master's degree in environment and development from the University of Reading (UK), specializing in environmental and climate change journalism.
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© 2007-2019 ZME Science-Not exactly rocket science. all rights reserved.