Jason Ford

Biosensor gives real-time wound-healing assessment

News

A new biosensor that monitors the condition of a chronic wound has been developed at Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The sensor would determine whether the dressing required changing, can come off completely or if the wound is infected
The sensor would determine whether the dressing required changing, can come off completely or if the wound is infected - Nottingham Trent University

Wounds represent a growing health care issue affecting thousands of patients. A 2020 study published in BMJ Open found that the annual NHS cost of wound management was £8.3bn between 2017/2018, of which £2.7bn and £5.6bn were associated with managing healed and unhealed wounds respectively.

Now, engineers and clinical academics at NTU and NUH have developed technology to be embedded into dressings so that they do not need to be continually removed and replaced to assess how a wound is healing.They believe the textile-based printed protein sensor could help to reduce the risk of patients becoming seriously ill and prevent amputation.

Dr Yang Wei, an expert in electronic textiles and electronic engineering in NTU’s School of Science and Technology, said the sensor analyses chemical biomarkers to give an indication of whether a wound is healing or not.
He told The Engineer that the dressing is currently powered via a USB but a coin cell battery, such as CR2035, will sustain the function for over eight hours.

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wound sensor