Smart bandage detects pressure ulcers

Wearable technology is providing all sorts of interesting solutions, and one of the latest developments in the works, thanks to improvements in flexible electronics, is a smart bandage that can detect pressure ulcers before the damage is visible to the eye.

Engineers come up with dressing which senses when cells start to die

Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have come up with a dressing that senses the electrical changes in cells as they start to die.

Technology detects bedsores before visible signs form

“We set out to create a type of bandage that could detect bedsores as they are forming, before the damage reaches the surface of the skin,” said Michel Maharbiz, a UC Berkeley associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and head of the smart-bandage project. “We can imagine this being carried by a nurse for spot-checking target areas on a patient, or it could be incorporated into a wound dressing to regularly monitor how it’s healing.”

Using gold electrodes picks up electrical signals from dying cells

The smart bandage is created by printing an array of dozens of gold electrodes onto a thin, flexible plastic film. They discharged a very small current between the electrodes to create a spatial map of the underlying tissue based upon the flow of electricity at different frequencies, a technique called impedance spectroscopy. When cells are healthy, the cell walls are relatively impermeable, but as a cell starts to die, the membrane breaks down, allowing electrical signals to leak through. In this way, the bandage can detect areas where pressure is causing damage to the tissue cells.

Pressure damage is due to oxygen deprivation caused by compression

The mechanism by which pressure damage occurs is that compression prevents efficient blood flow to the area, so the tissues are deprived of oxygen, leading to damage and death. A pressure ulcer has been likened to an iceberg, in that what is visible at the surface is just a small proportion of the injury that lies beneath. It can take a week for signs of damage to appear, which is why this smart bandage, which identifies pressure ulcers well before anything can be seen by eye, could play such a valuable part in reducing the problem.

Pressure ulcers costs NHS 4% of their budget

Pressure ulcers have been estimated to cost the NHS between £1,760 million and £2,640 million each year – approximately 4% of its total budget. These figures have been arrived at based on typical costs for treating pressure ulcers, which are £1064, £4402, rising to £7313 and £10,551 for wounds of Category I through to IV. The cost is widely believed to be understated, as the majority of studies have been based on hospital populations, where just 11% of cases are found. In fact, it is likely that some 20% of care home residents and 30% of people cared for in the community will develop pressure ulcers.

The findings of the UC Berkeley research were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Smart bandage picture © UC Berkeley

Further Resources

More information about pressure ulcers and managing effective pressure care can be found in our pressure relief area

More about pressure relief surfaces for sleeping here, and for sitting here

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