Source: Nano Lab, Sameer Sonkusale, Tufts University
Key parameters for monitoring the healing process include: pH, which for normal healing wounds falls at 5.5 to 6.5, while a non-healing infected wound can have pH well above 6.5; and temperature, which offers information about the level of inflammation in and around the wound.
The smart bandages combine pH and temperature sensors with flexible sensors for oxygenation, which were developed by Sonkusale and his team, to monitor the healing process. Once the sensors collect the data, a microprocessor analyzes it and can release a drug.
The construct is attached to a transparent medical tape to form a flexible bandage less than 3 mm thick. The components were selected to keep the bandage low-cost and disposable, except for the reusable microprocessor.
“The smart bandage we created, with pH and temperature sensors and antibiotic drug delivery, is really a prototype for a wide range of possibilities,” Sonkusale said. “One can imagine embedding other sensing components, drugs and growth factors that treat different conditions in response to different healing markers.”
Although I don’t want to find myself needing one of these smart bandages any time soon, the possibilities that this prototype presents, as Sonkusale pointed out, are immense. Unless I become less clumsy, which is unlikely, I might find myself on the market for one of these solutions one day.