Impedance sensing device for monitoring ulcer healing in human patients

Abstract

Chronic skin wounds affect millions of people each year and take billions of dollars to treat. Ulcers are a type of chronic skin wound that can be especially painful for patients and are tricky to treat because current monitoring solutions are subjective. We have developed an impedance sensing tool to objectively monitor the progression of healing in ulcers, and have begun a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and feasibility of our device to map damaged regions of skin. Impedance data has been collected on five patients with ulcers, and impedance was found to correlate with tissue health. A damage threshold was applied to effectively identify certain regions of skin as "damaged tissue".

Smart Wound Dressings for Diabetic Chronic Wounds

“…Physical sensors have been extensively used in clinical trials to quantify the wound healing process. Liao et al, applied a modified hydrogel-based impedance sensor to a clinical study monitoring five patients with stage I, II and III ulcers [ 116 , 120 ]. They found the impedance threshold for tissue damage to be higher than data from a previously studied rat model at 100 K ohms in magnitude and a phase angle between −30 and 10 degrees [ 116 , 120 ].…”

“…Liao et al, applied a modified hydrogel-based impedance sensor to a clinical study monitoring five patients with stage I, II and III ulcers [ 116 , 120 ]. They found the impedance threshold for tissue damage to be higher than data from a previously studied rat model at 100 K ohms in magnitude and a phase angle between −30 and 10 degrees [ 116 , 120 ]. Milne et al, recruited 30 patients for their observational clinical trial where they used a commercially available moisture sensor (WoundSense) that uses impedance to measure the degree of moisture in wounds at time of dressing change [ 121 ].…”

Detecting and Monitoring Periprosthetic Joint Infection by Using Electrical Bioimpedance Spectroscopy: A Preliminary Case Study

“…The development of this technique is increasing due to the inaccessible nature of the environments in which the biofilms grow. In addition, EBS seems to be a promising solution to evaluate: (i) fracture fixation [ 16 ]; (ii) the pressure-induced tissue damage in case of pressure ulcers [ 17 , 18 ]; (iii) the differences in contracted state, cellular metabolic activity, and extracellular fluid between healthy subjects and subjects who had suffered muscle injury [ 19 ]; (iv) the variation in soft-tissue hydration and in cell membrane integrity [ 20 ]; (v) the effect of excessive thickening of tissue between the prosthesis and the bone in low-depth prostheses [ 21 ]. Despite the practical advantage and established measurement properties of EBS, its involvement in effective management of PJIs is not yet clear.…”