The ‘smart’ bandage that knows if you are healing

SMART bandages that can detect how well a wound is healing and send messages to the doctor will be trialled in the next year, scientists have said.

Tiny sensors fitted into the dressings can spot infections, pick up blood clotting and send data to the patient’s doctor.

It could also connect to a smartphone to track other health concerns – such as diet – that could be hindering healing.

The technology is to be trialled by Swansea University in the next 12 months.

Professor Marc Clement, chairman of the Institute of Life Science, said: ‘What the future holds is a world where there’s the ability to vary the treatment to the individual, the lifestyle and the pattern of life. Sometimes we revere doctors so much that we tell them all is well but all of the

‘Vary treatment to the individual’

evidence is there before them in this 5G world, so the clinician and patient can work together to address the challenge.’

Speaking to the BBC, he added: ‘The next thing is to make those dressings at a cost affordable for the health service.’

There are already clinical trials under way on smart bandages that glow bright yellow if the wound has been infected.

It is designed to give an early warning of injuries from burns or scalds going septic under dressing – and it is hoped the dressing will save the NHS money.

Existing methods of detecting infections can take up to 48 hours to come through – as well as removing wound dressings, which can be painful and distressing.