Abstract-Textile-based sensors offer an unobtrusive method of continually monitoring physiological parameters during daily activities. Chemical analysis of body fluids, noninvasively, is a novel and exciting area of personalized wearable healthcare systems. BIOTEX was an EU-funded project that aimed to develop textile sensors to measure physiological parameters and the chemical composition of body fluids, with a particular interest in sweat. A wearable sensing system has been developed that integrates a textile-based fluid handling system for sample collection and transport with a number of sensors including sodium, conductivity, and pH sensors. Sensors for sweat rate, ECG, respiration, and blood oxygenation were also developed. For the first time, it has been possible to monitor a number of physiological parameters together with sweat composition in real time. This has been carried out via a network of wearable sensors distributed around the body of a subject user. This has huge implications for the field of sports and human performance and opens a whole new field of research in the clinical setting. F. Di Francesco is with the Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università di Pisa, Pisa 56126, Italy (e-mail: fdifra@dcci.unipi.it).D. Costanzo and M. G. Trivella are with the Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa 56100, Italy (e-mail: costanzo.daniele@ libero.it; trivella@ifc.cnr.it).P. Salvo and D. E. De Rossi are with the Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca "E. Piaggio," Università di Pisa 56100, Italy (e-mail: psalvo@ifc.cnr.it; d.derossi@ing.unipi.it).N. Taccini and R. Paradiso are with Smartex s.r

Compression therapy with stockings or bandages is the most common treatment for venous or lymphatic disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of bandage mechanical properties, application technique and subject morphology on the interface pressure, which is the key of this treatment. Bandage stretch and interface pressure measurements (between the bandage and the leg) were performed on 30 healthy subjects (15 men and 15 women) at two different heights on the lower leg and in two positions (supine and standing). Two bandages were applied with two application techniques by a single operator. The statistical analysis of the results revealed: no significant difference in pressure between men and women, except for the pressure variation between supine and standing positions; a very strong correlation between pressure and bandage mechanical properties (p < 0.00001) and between pressure and bandage overlapping (p < 0.00001); a significant pressure increase from supine to standing positions (p < 0.0001). Also, it showed that pressure tended to decrease when leg circumference increased. Overall, pressure applied by elastic compression bandages varies with subject morphology, bandage mechanical properties and application technique. A better knowledge of the impact of these parameters on the applied pressure may lead to a more effective treatment.

Elastic and non-elastic bandages behave differently from one another, and non-elastic bandages not appearing to comply with medical recommendations concerning graduated pressure. There is a high level of variability between subjects for some compression bandages (non-elastic and figure-of-eight methods).

The order of bandage application showed a significant impact on interface pressure. However, the poor correlation between the pressure applied by each bandage component and the pressure resulting from their superimposition underlined the poor understanding of interface pressure generated by the superimposition of compression bandages and should lead to further investigations.

Compression of the lower leg by bandages is a common treatment for the advanced stages of some venous or lymphatic pathologies. The outcomes of this treatment directly result from the pressure generated onto the limb. Various bandage configurations are proposed by manufacturers: the study of these configurations requires the development of reliable methods to predict pressure distribution applied by compression bandages. Currently, clinicians and manufacturers have no dedicated tools to predict bandage pressure generation. A numerical simulation approach is presented in this work, which includes patient-specific leg geometry and bandage. This model provides the complete pressure distribution over the leg. The results were compared to experimental pressure measurements and pressure values computed with Laplace's law. Using an appropriate surrogate model, this study demonstrated that such simulation is appropriate to account for phenomena which are neglected in Laplace's law, like geometry changes due to bandage application.