Smart Bandage for Monitoring and Treatment of Chronic Wounds

Abstract

Chronic wounds are a major health concern and they affect the lives of more than 25 million people in the United States. They are susceptible to infection and are the leading cause of nontraumatic limb amputations worldwide. The wound environment is dynamic, but their healing rate can be enhanced by administration of therapies at the right time. This approach requires real-time monitoring of the wound environment with on-demand drug delivery in a closed-loop manner. In this paper, a smart and automated flexible wound dressing with temperature and pH sensors integrated onto flexible bandages that monitor wound status in real-time to address this unmet medical need is presented. Moreover, a stimuli-responsive drug releasing system comprising of a hydrogel loaded with thermo-responsive drug carriers and an electronically controlled flexible heater is also integrated into the wound dressing to release the drugs on-demand. The dressing is equipped with a microcontroller to process the data measured by the sensors and to program the drug release protocol for individualized treatment. This flexible smart wound dressing has the potential to significantly impact the treatment of chronic wounds.

Breathable hydrogel dressings containing natural antioxidants for management of skin disorders

“…Another important function of wound dressings is inhibiting the growth of bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus or Staphylococcus epidermidis, which are part of the skin flora and are commonly present in infected wounds. 23 This process has been so far achieved by the incorporation of antibiotics and antibacterial compounds such as silver as well as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. 24,25 Nanoparticles of silver (Ag) and zinc oxide (ZnO) with promising antimicrobial activity has been synthesized using environmentfriendly and inexpensive process and they were successfully incorporated into antimicrobial bandages.…”

A Wirelessly Controlled Smart Bandage with 3D‐Printed Miniaturized Needle Arrays

“…Such capability does not exist in any existing bandages. Also, almost all the current methods and systems used for controlling drug release in the treatment of wound care are designed for topical delivery of drugs 7,15. This is due to the ease‐of‐access to the wound site, which allows for the localized delivery of therapeutics.…”

Smart Flexible Electronics‐Integrated Wound Dressing for Real‐Time Monitoring and On‐Demand Treatment of Infected Wounds

“…Being aware of this, some researchers have attempted to develop advanced dressing systems to monitor wound status in real time and provide on‐demand treatments by combining a bioelectronics system with a responsive drug delivery system. Under this design principle, several wound dressings were reported that can guide the point‐of‐care treatment and provide feedback in a closed‐loop manner . These devices exhibit capabilities in capturing wound physiological signals for diagnosis and delivering therapeutic molecules on demand.…”

“…These devices exhibit capabilities in capturing wound physiological signals for diagnosis and delivering therapeutic molecules on demand. In a recent pioneering study, Mostafalu et al used a flexible pH sensor to monitor and indicate wound infection in real time. Moreover, a drug‐releasing system comprised of a thermo‐responsive drug‐release patch and a flexible microheater was also integrated into the bandage.…”