Flexible biochemical sensors for point-of-care management of diseases: a review

Abstract

Health problems have been widely concerned by all mankind. Real-time monitoring of disease-related biomarkers can feedback the physiological status of human body in time, which is very helpful to the diseases management of healthcare. However, conventional non-flexible/rigid biochemical sensors possess low fit and comfort with the human body, hence hindering the accurate and comfortable long-time health monitoring. Flexible and stretchable materials make it possible for sensors to be continuously attached to the human body with good fit, and more precise and higher quality results can be obtained. Thus, tremendous attention has been paid to flexible biochemical sensors in point-of-care (POC) for real-time monitoring the entire disease process. Here, recent progress on flexible biochemical sensors for management of various diseases, focusing on chronic and communicable diseases, is reviewed, and the detection principle and performance of these flexible biochemical sensors are discussed. Finally, some directions and challenges are proposed for further development of flexible biochemical sensors. Graphical abstract

Wearable Smart Bandage-Based Bio-Sensors

“…Another type of sensor is based on biochemical targets such as pH, ions, enzymes, DNA, and antibodies that provide additional information about the patient’s health status [ 135 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 ]. Although much progress has been made in the body fluid analysis methods, especially blood [ 142 ], traditional biochemical analysis still requires expensive instrumentation and trained personnel, in addition to being physically present in the hospital or laboratory, and an invasive sample collection process.…”