New smart bandages heal wounds by tracking inflammation

The days of healing bloodied cuts with a simple plaster could soon be behind us.

Researchers have designed a new ‘smart’ bandage with an in-built processor capable of tracking the progress of wounds as they heal.

It does this using embedded pH and temperature sensors, which can check for infection and inflammation.

The next-generation bandage also administers the correct dose of medicine over the course of the day.

According to a research led by Tufts University in Massachusetts, these lab-tested bandages could help heal persistent and difficult medical challenges.

Chronic skin wounds from burns, diabetes, and other medical conditions can overwhelm the regenerative capabilities of the skin.

These non-healing chronic wounds are a significant medical hurdle, and cost $28 billion (£21bn) to the US economy alone.

Smart bandages could help to deliver treatment with limited intervention from the patient or caregivers.

According to a new study published in the journal Small, these bandages would be capable of assisting the skin’s natural healing process by using an array of sensors.

‘We’ve been able to take a new approach to bandages because of the emergence of flexible electronics,’ said Sameer Sonkusale, Ph.D. professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts University’s School of Engineering and corresponding co-author for the study.

‘In fact, flexible electronics have made many wearable medical devices possible, but bandages have changed little since the beginnings of medicine.

‘We are simply applying modern technology to an ancient art hopes of improving outcomes intractable problem.’

The pH of a chronic wound is one way of monitoring how it is healing.

Normal healing wounds fall within the range of pH 5.5 to 6.5, whereas nonhealing infected wounds can have a pH level well above 6.5.

Temperature is an important way to determine the level of inflammation in and around the wound.

The smart bandages have been created and tested successfully under in vitro conditions and pre-clinical studies are now underway. in the for an