Smart Bandages. a new era in wound care

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Smart bandages are not far away and will change the way we manage wounds in the clinical setting. Professor Nicolas Voelcker is at the forefront of this research and here he explains how silicon-based nanomaterials facilitate the management of wounds.

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The inability to measure the pressure in a bandage can in some cases result in a patient wearing a bandage for an entire week that is of no therapeutic benefit. When a pressure bandage is applied, for example to a patient with venous leg ulcers, there is currently no way to assess if the right sort of pressure has been applied or if the bandage loosens through normal activities like sitting, standing, and laying down.
The technology that we have developed at the University of South Australia fits small sensors between the layers of the bandage that monitor pressure.
The sensors continually monitor pressure and send information to a hand-held device such as a smartphone or a tablet so that data can be logged either by the patient or clinician. This data can then be regularly accessed by the clinician who can then check if the applied pressure is suitable. This means more effective management of patients both in hospital and in the community who have chronic wounds requiring pressure bandages and better management of resources.
The question of resources is front and centre in most healthcare settings and if you have a system that can prevent unnecessary work, like physically redressing an already well-fitting bandage, and channel that time into refitting a loose bandage in another patient, I would see that as having advantages across all healthcare facilities.
pH and Temperature
We have also developed smart dressings that monitor other parameters in the wound such as humidity, moisture, pH and the temperature as well. The only way currently for a clinician to check the progress of a wound is to take the dressing off and check the wound. This can cause the patient pain; it consumes resources and time and when you are removing a dressing you may remove some of the cell layers that have formed over the wound and this can set-back the wound healing to some extent. So it would be advantageous to be able to tell if there was a need to replace a wound dressing or if it can be left in place.
So we have developed a set of technologies to affect this diagnostic capability. One of these involves sensors embedded in the dressing that measure moisture and temperature and these sensors send the data to a smartphone or tablet. The nurse or clinician is then alerted via smartphone or tablet when a dressing is too dry or too wet and needs attention. Infections in chronic wounds are common and if there is a colonisation of a pathogen that forms a biofilm, this can delay the wound healing progress or cause sepsis in the patient. An increase in temperature is a good indicator that a wound is inflamed and possibly infected and this is another of the parameters that can be monitored with our sensors.
This smartphone technology is one of our areas of research and the other is dressings that incorporate patches of sensors that can change colour in response to changes in temperature. This causes the bandage to change from green to red if the temp is becoming febrile for example. Our patches that detect changes in pH, another important indicator of infection and stages of wound healing, change colour by interacting with light.
So with these types of smart bandage, the clinician or nurse can say, “Right, there is no colour change in this bandage so let’s leave the dressing on and we can check on it later today.” This has great benefits for both healthcare professionals and patients.
Keeping it Clean
Research into smart bandages is going on all over the world. The unique element to our research is in the design of patches that contain no organic molecules that could potentially contaminate a wound. Instead, the sensors react to a physical change in the environment.
Our pressure sensor technology is at an advanced stage where we are keen to start clinical trials and the smart dressing project is at a prototype stage as well. We are seeking funding to continue this work and to start testing the technology with real patients in a clinical setting.
Professor Nicolas Voelcker
Professor Nicolas Voelcker, since 2015 has held the Strand Leader role for Biomaterials and Nanomedicine and the Lloyd Sansom Chair in Biomaterials and Nanomedicine in the Future Industry Institute, University of South Australia. He is Node Leader in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science & Technology.
His key research interest lies in the fabrication and surface modification of porous semiconductor materials for applications in biosensors, biochips, biomaterials and drug delivery. A core research activity in his laboratory is the study of porous silicon based nanostructures and their surface chemistry.
Authoring over 280 peerreviewed journal articles and over 4700 citations (h-index 36), he has received fellowships from the German Research Foundation (DFG), CSIRO, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, is a Tall Poppy Science Award recipient, South Australian Scientist of the Year 2015 Finalist and the Australian Innovation Challenge. He is serving on the College of Experts of the Australian Research Council.

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“The unique element to our research is in the design of patches that contain no organic molecules that could potentially contaminate a wound. Instead, the sensors react to a physical change in the environment.”

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