Technology Spotlight: Smart Bandage Signals Early Tissue Damage in Pressure Ulcer Prevention
Among residents in long-term care facilities, the risk of pressure ulcer development is high due to prolonged periods of immobility and nutritional deficits that affect skin integrity. If pressure ulcers are detected early, various healing interventions can be employed to reduce the risks of complications, such as infection, and reduce the associated healthcare costs. Oftentimes, however, recognition of pressure ulcers may only occur once the wound is visible to the naked eye, at which point irreversible damage may already be done. At the University of California (Berkeley and San Francisco), a team of engineers across several disciplines is asking the question: what if a device could predict ulcers before they are even visible?
The team ispresently developing the so-called “smart bandage.” The bandage is fabricated by printing gold electrodes onto a thin piece of plastic; a flexible sensor uses impedance spectroscopy to detect when healthy cells start dying, indicating early tissue damage. “By the time you see signs of a bedsore on the surface of the skin, it’s usually too late,” said Michael Harrison, MD, professor of surgery, University of California at San Francisco and co-investigator of the study, in a UC Berkeley press release. “This bandage could provide an easy early-warning system that would allow intervention before the injury is permanent. If you can detect bedsores early on, the solution is easy. Just take the pressure off.”
So far, the product has been tested in animal models. To mimic the development of pressure ulcers, the researchers squeezed the bare skin of rats between two magnets and left them in place for 3 hours while the rats resumed activity. After the magnets were removed, inflammation and oxidative damage that accelerated cell death were observed. The smart bandage tracked the progress of their wounds for at least 3 days. The results so far showed that the smart bandage could detect changes in electrical resistance with increased membrane permeability, indicating cell death. The researchers explained that as a cell starts to die, the cell wall breaks down and allows electrical signals to “leak through.”
Researchers believe that the technology could have many useful implications in clinical practice. “We can imagine this being carried by a nurse for spot-checking target areas on a patient, or it could be incorporated into a wound dressing to regularly monitor how it’s healing,” said project head Michel Maharbiz, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, UC Berkeley, in a press statement.
The project is being funded through the National Science Foundation. According to UC Berkeley, study co-author and professor of surgery David Young, University of California at San Francisco, is leading a clinical trial of the bandage. You can view a video demonstration of the smart bandage at the UC Berkeley website at https://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2015/03/17/smart-bandages-detect-bedsores.
