Smart bandages designed to monitor and adapt the treatment of chronic wounds

MEDFORD / SOMERVILLE, Mass. (July 6, 2018) – A team of engineers led by Tufts University developed a prototype bandage designed to actively monitor the condition of chronic wounds and administer appropriate drug treatments to improve the chances of healing . While laboratory-tested dressings still need to be evaluated in a clinical setting, the research, published today in the journal Small, aims to turn the bandage of a traditionally passive treatment into a more active paradigm for a persistent and difficult medical challenge. 19659002] Chronic skin wounds caused by burns, diabetes, and other medical problems can overwhelm the skin's regenerative capabilities and often result in infections and persistent amputations. With the idea of ​​providing assistance to the natural healing process, researchers have designed dressings with heat-resistant heating elements and heat-resistant carriers that can provide tailored treatments in response to the following integrated pH and temperature probes. Infection and inflammation

Chronic wounds are a major medical problem – almost 15% of Medicare beneficiaries need treatment for at least one type of chronic wound or pain. Infection, at an estimated annual cost of $ 28 billion, according to a study published in Value in Health. Patients are often older, non-ambulatory and limited in their ability to take care of themselves, but non-healing wounds are usually treated on an outpatient or at home basis. Smart dressings could provide real-time monitoring and delivery of treatment with limited intervention from the patient or caregivers.

"We have been able to adopt a new approach to bandages due to the emergence of flexible electronics," says Sameer Sonkusale, PhD professor of electrical and computer engineering at the School of Engineering of Tufts University and co-author of the study. "In fact, flexible electronics has made possible many portable medical devices, but the bandages have changed little since the early days of medicine.We simply apply modern technology to ancient art in the hope of 39, improve the results for an intractable problem. "

The pH of a chronic wound is one of the key parameters for tracking its progress. Normal healing wounds are in the pH range of 5.5 to 6.5, while non-healing wound infections can have a 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 dressings in this study combine pH and temperature sensors, Sonkusale and his team of engineers have also developed flexible sensors for oxygenation – another healing marker – that can be integrated into the bandage. The inflammation could also be followed not only by heat but also by specific biomarkers.

A microprocessor reads the data from the sensors and can release a drug at the request of its carriers by heating the gel. The entire construct is attached to a clear medical tape to form a flexible bandage less than 3 mm thick. The components have been selected to keep the bandage low cost and disposable, except for the microprocessor, which can be reused.

"The intelligent bandage we created, with pH and temperature sensors and antibiotic drug delivery, is really prototype for a wide range of possibilities," said Sonkusale. "One can imagine integrating other detection components, drugs, and growth factors that treat different conditions in response to different scarring markers."

Smart bandages were created and successfully tested under in vitro conditions. Preclinical studies are in progress to determine their clinical benefits in vivo by facilitating healing over traditional dressings and wound care products.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (EFRI-1240443), the Office of Naval Research Young. Researcher's Award, ONR PECASE Award, and the National Institutes of Health (AR066193, AR066193, EB022403, AR057837, HL137193, EB021857, T32 EB16652 and EB024403)

Mostafalu, P., Tamayol, A., Rahimi, R., Ochoa, M., Khalilpour, A., Kiaee, G., Yazdi, IK, Bagherifard, S., Dokmeci, MR, Ziaie, B., Sonkusale, SR, Khademhosseini, A., "Smart bandage for the monitoring and treatment of chronic wounds, "Small, (2018). DOI: 10.1002 / smll.201703509

About Tufts University

Tufts University, located on the campuses of Boston, Medford / Somerville and Grafton, Massachusetts, and Talloires, France, is recognized among the top research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a worldwide reputation for academic excellence and for preparing students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives cover all Tufts campuses, and collaboration between faculty and students in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programs in schools. university is widely encouraged.