New device to help doctors monitor scarring

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – US researchers have created a new flexible sensor to measure oxygen levels in the blood over large areas of skin, tissues and organs, helping doctors to follow the development of wound healing.

"When you hear the word" oxygen meter "in the blood, a large, rigid image of the device appears, with measurable units of measurement that restrict the patient's movements," said Yasser Khan, researcher at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Berkeley. The image is made by a light gauge, flexible and not thick. "

"After an organ transplant, surgeons need to look for oxygen in all new tissues.If you use a conventional measuring device, you have to move from one place to the other of the patient's body to perform the measurement, but the new device allows to record multiple readings. " At the same time, the surgeon will be able to determine if the process of assimilation is proceeding correctly or not. "

The team used the device to measure the degree of oxygen saturation on the forehead of a volunteer who was breathing air with gradually decreasing oxygen concentrations, such as when a person climbs from the Earth's surface, according to the scientific research website "Viz Dot Org".

The new device consists of a series of light-emitting diodes and organic electrodes printed on flexible material emitted to different degrees by infrared radiation. The research team found that the readings of the new device corresponded to the results of the conventional devices for measuring the proportion of oxygen in the blood.