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A smart bandage, capable of monitoring a wound and administering periodic drug treatments, was developed by a team of researchers from Tufts University. Currently, just a prototype, the technology detailed in a recent article in the journal Small might one day help turn medical treatment, allowing a doctor to more closely monitor the condition of his patient while treating him more. actively. "Sameer Sonkusale, a Tufts engineering professor who led the project, told Digital Trends." He feels how the wound heals and delivers the drug in real time in the right amount to make it heal faster. "[19659003] As lifestyle diseases such as obesity and heart disease increase, chronic wounds heal unpredictably at rates and in disordered stages Chronic wounds are a challenge for physicians, who need to identify the underlying cause of chronic conditions, while monitoring and treating the wound to prevent infection
"Increased cases of diabetes and obesity a resulted in an epidemic of chronic wounds, "said Sonkusale." Chronic wounds are one of the leading causes of amputations outside wars. We believe that flexible intelligent bioelectronics technology has the potential to improve the health outcome of these injuries. "
The smart bandage developed by Sonkusale and his team uses sensors to detect subtle biomarkers that signal wound healing A microprocessor reads data captured by sensors, communicates with a mobile device, and can order the dressing to release the drug he deems appropriate.
For example, Sonkusale said: "One can feel if oxygen is enough. Is it at the right pH level, which is a sign of abnormal healing? What is the temperature near the wound? Is there inflammation? All this information is communicated to a treatment center where the doctor has scheduled the release of a drug such as an antibiotic or growth factor to improve healing. This closed-loop "feel-then-respond" bandage is probably the first of its kind.
In recent years, researchers have demonstrated different next-generation bandages that can detect infections and track healing. These futuristic patches have not yet arrived on the market and Sonkusale acknowledges that he still has a lot of development ahead of him, but, once completed, he is considering a wide range of use cases involving chronic injuries.
"He has applications to bed wounds, burns and surgical wounds," he said. "It can reduce the complications badociated with infections and reduce the number of amputations. And all of this is possible because your dressing has intervened appropriately at the right time to heal your wounds faster. "
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