Researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed the world’s first “smart” dressing for chronic wounds. The so-called VeCare has a wearable sensor technology that informs in real time the conditions and point of treatment of wounds, through an application.
The dressing, developed in partnership with Singapore General Hospital, uses sensor technology capable of detecting temperature, pH (acidity), type of bacteria and inflammatory factors specific to severe wounds, in periods of 15 minutes.
It is estimated that between 1% and 2% of people in developed countries will suffer chronic injuries at some point in their lives. VeCare can be especially useful for patients with so-called diabetic foot ulcers.
“The VeCare platform is easily scalable and adaptable to accommodate different panels or biological markers to monitor various types of wounds,” said Lim Chwee Teck, director of the Institute of Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech) at the National University of Singapore.
REDUCTION IN THE COST OF TREATMENTS
The healing process of chronic wounds can be interrupted by repeated infections and trauma, which causes more pain and stress for patients. In the case of diabetic foot ulcers, this can lead to more serious consequences such as amputation.
Patients with non-healing wounds typically spend a lot of time and money on testing and treatment to speed recovery, which can take days and require multiple clinic visits. The intent of the smart dressing is that people can receive medical advice without leaving their home.
These localized care devices combined with digital functions could play a role in “transforming the healthcare industry and our society,” noted Lim.
SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT
There are other sensor technologies created for wound care, but these can only monitor a limited amount of markers. VeCare, however, is the first analytics platform that can detect certain types of bacteria and probe for inflammatory factors with a single 15-minute test.
The “smart” dressing allows a quick assessment of the wound microenvironment, inflammation and infection status, by detecting multiple biological markers characteristic of severe wounds through an electrochemical system that analyzes wound fluids.
A collector transports fluids to the sensor, and a chip attached to it wirelessly transmits the data to an application, allowing real-time wound analysis. The chip component, which runs on a rechargeable battery, can be reusable.
Smart dressing is not yet available. The next step for the research team is to continue to develop VeCare to suit regulatory safety and mass production requirements.
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