This Smart Bandage Monitors Health, Speeds Healing, and Even Delivers Medicine Directly to the Wound

Designed to monitor wounds and speed healing, this smart bandage can take an active role in wound care.

Researchers from the the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Southern California have unveiled a new smart bandage system which, they say, can make it easier and cheaper to treat chronic wounds while improving treatment efficacy — even delivering antibiotics or other medication automatically when required.

"There are many different types of chronic wounds, especially in diabetic ulcers and burns that last a long time and cause huge issues for the patient," explains Wei Gao, associate professor of medical engineering and corresponding author of the work. "There is a demand for technology that can facilitate recovery."

The device developed in Gao's lab combines electronics with a flexible, stretchable polymer layer designed to conform to the skin and provide comfort. Used alongside a hydrogel bandage to seal the wound, the smart bandage uses sensors to monitor the temperature and pH level of the wound alongside checking for molecules like uric acid or lactate which may indicate infection or other problems.

In addition to passively transmitting these findings to a nearby smartphones wirelessly using an Infineon Technologies CYBLE-222014 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) chip, the bandage can take a more active role. The team's design includes integrated reservoirs of medicine, such as antibiotics, which can be delivered to the wound site when the bandage decides they are necessary. The bandage also offers the ability to speed healing through the application of a low-level electrical field, designed to stimulate tissue growth around the wound.

The team from Caltech and the University of Southern California is far from the only one investigating the potential for smart bandages which can monitor and even accelerate the healing process. Late last year the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative demonstrated a similar project, which could monitor skin impedance and temperature while delivering electrical stimulation to accelerate healing by up to 25 percent. Back in February an inter-university team unveiled a variant of the same concept that cut healing times by 30 percent — and which could disappear entirely when no longer required.

"We have showed this proof of concept in small animal models," explains Gao of the team's work, "but down the road, we would like to increase the stability of the device but also to test it on larger chronic wounds because the wound parameters and microenvironment may vary from site to site."

The smart bandage is described in a paper published in the journal Science Advances under open-access terms.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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