Everything is advancing in this age of technical advancements, so why not the humble, simple bandage? Various researchers across the world are trying to turn this simple medical strip into something more smart and intelligent and many have succeeded in introducing such bandages to the market. So let’s look at some of the high-tech bandages that you may be seeing or using in the near future.
Smart bio-electronic bandages
A new kind of smart bioelectronic bandage is under development that uses sensors, biomaterials, and micro-systems technology to monitor and treat wounds that require longer-term care, such as diabetic ulcers and burns. This bandage is being worked upon by a team of researchers from Tufts, Perdue, Harvard and Women’s Hospital supported by the National Science Foundation. Dubbed as “flexible bioelectronics”, the idea behind this technology is to incorporate circuits into flexible, safe polymeric substrates. Intended for biomedical and life science applications, they will be able to track the healing process by checking oxygen levels and temperature. Health professionals would receive readings of this info, even when they’re not with the patient. To improve its flexibility factor, the researchers are using materials like a hydrogel and in the same hydrogel patch of the bandage; polymeric micro-particles will be embedded during the manufacturing process for the purpose of drug delivery. There would be a stimulation mechanism on the top of the patch where flexible sensors monitor temp and pH, and if the wound changes for the worse, the researchers send a pulse to the stimulator to release the drugs in the micro-particles.
In another study regarding smart bandages, a group of doctors fromMelbourne and Monash Universities lead by Nico Voelckeris working on a flexible bandage that uses nanotechnology for monitoring and alerts. Theoretically, this bandage is supposed to change color like the liquid bandages, and use sensors and Bluetooth to send data to a smartphone. The idea is to be able to detect the signs of infection sooner, and without removing the bandage and thereby compromising the healing process. The concept has been prototyped, but needs more funding to move on to clinical trials.
A colour-changing bandage
Did you know that healthy healing wounds have a pH of about five or six? Based on the same fact, in 2010, a German team from the Fraunhofer Research Institutions for Microsystems and Solid State Technology EMFT created a bandage that changes color to indicate infection by reacting to the pH of the skin beneath; though in appearance it looks like any other normal self-adhesive bandage. If the pH of the wound gets too alkaline, then it signals an infection underneath the skin. If and when the wound gets alkaline (between 6.4 and 8.5 pH), this bandage turns purple.
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