Futuristic bandage can monitor wounds and deliver drug treatment

#News(Startup) [ via IoTForIndiaGroup ]

“What we have demonstrated is a flexible smart bandage that has your drug cocktail in it,” Sameer Sonkusale, a Tufts engineering professors who led the project, told Digital Trends. “It senses how the wound is healing and delivers the drug in real time in appropriate quantity to make it heal faster.”

The smart bandage developed by Sonkusale and his team uses sensors to detect subtle biomarkers that signal wound healing. A microprocessor reads data captured by the sensors, communicates with a mobile device, and can direct the bandage to release medication if deemed appropriate.

For example, Sonkusale said, “It can sense whether it is getting enough oxygen. Is it at the right pH level, which is a sign of abnormal healing? What is the temperature near the wound? Is there any inflammation? All of this info is communicated to a central processor where the doctor has programmed drug release such as an antibiotic, or growth factor, to improve healing. This closed loop ‘sense-then-respond’ bandage is probably the first of its kind.”

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