There are situations when the wound does not heal, becomes chronic and remains open for months. This happens with infections, diabetes, or a weakened immune system, as they slow down the healing process.
Chronic wounds, in addition to being a potential health risk, can cause anxiety and depression. However, there are few solutions. Now researchers at Stanford University have made a major breakthrough in accelerating tissue repair thanks to wireless smart headband which allows you to treat the wound and at the same time monitor the healing process.
In an article published in natural biotechnology These scientists claim that the device they created promotes faster healing of wounds, increases the flow of new blood to damaged tissues and improves skin regeneration significantly reducing scarring.
This smart bandage consists of a wireless circuit that uses impedance/temperature sensors to monitor the wound healing process. and, if the wound heals worse or an infection is detected, the sensors inform the central processing unit to apply more electrical stimulation to the wound bed and thus accelerate tissue closure and reduce infection. The researchers obtained real-time sensor data in smartphone without the need for cables.
“By sealing the wound, the smart bandage protects it while it heals,” said Yuanwen Jiang, study co-author and lab researcher at Zhenan Bao, K.K. Li professor of chemical engineering at the Stanford School of Engineering. . “But it is not a passive instrument. This is an active healing device that could change the standard of care for chronic wounds.”
How smart bandage works
The new smart bandage consists of an electronic layer that includes a microcontroller unit (MCU), radio antenna, memory, electrical stimulator, biosensors and other components, and is similar in thickness to a single layer of latex paint. This circuit is mounted on a skin-like hydrogel that adheres to the wound surface and provides healing electrical stimulation to injured tissue and collects real-time biosensor data. If you want to remove the bandage, all you have to do is heat it up a few degrees above body temperature (40ºC).
The researchers explain that they have shown in mice that their “wound care system can continuously monitor skin impedance and temperature and provide electrical stimulation in response to the wound environment. In preclinical wound models, the treatment group heals about 25% faster and with approximately 50% improvement in skin remodeling compared to control. In addition, we observed the activation of pro-regenerative genes in monocyte and macrophage cell populations, which may enhance tissue regeneration, neovascularization, and skin repair.”
“With pacing and sensing in one device, the smart bandage speeds up healing and also helps as the wound improves.”, — explained co-author of the study Artem Trotsyuk. “We believe this represents a new modality that will enable new biological discoveries and explore hypotheses about the human healing process that have previously been difficult to test.”
However, these scientists cautioned that they still need to do new research to test their smart bandage, which includes increasing the size of the human-scale device, reducing costs, and addressing long-term data retention issues, all in order to be mass-produced if it’s necessary.
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Source: La Opinion
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