With strong adhesion, stretchability and flexibility, smart bandages promote healing of chronically infected wounds

US researchers have developed a new stretchable wireless bioelectronic system that can be used to monitor chronically infected wounds and promote healing through electrical stimulation and drug treatment of the wound site. Researchers have demonstrated that the device adheres easily to the skin and accelerates wound healing in diabetic mice.

Smart bandage for multiple monitoring and combined treatment of infected wounds. Image source: Caltech

Chronic non-healing wounds affect more than 60,000 people in the United States alone, adding more than $700 million in medical costs to people with diabetic ulcers, burns, surgical complications and other conditions.

Current methods of treating chronic wounds can be invasive because bacterial infections are common, hindering original healing and sometimes leading to severe illness and death. Although electrical stimulation has been reported to accelerate wound healing, existing devices are bulky and impractical. Recent advances in bioelectronics have enabled the use of flexible, wearable biosensors to treat chronic wounds that can monitor wounds through physiological markers such as pH, temperature or glucose, but it is unclear whether these devices are effective in practice.

The research team recently designed a wireless bioelectronic patch made of flexible printed circuit boards that can be custom designed to monitor several physiological biomarkers of the healing process and infection onset, control drug delivery through electroactive hydrogel, and applying voltage through electrical stimulation to promote healing of the wound site.

The researchers tested the device on freely moving diabetic mice and found that it exhibited strong adhesion, stretchability and flexibility, accelerating wound healing within 25 days. The researchers concluded that a custom-designed, fully integrated wearable patch could serve as a more effective, fully controllable, and easy-to-implement platform for personalized monitoring and treatment of chronic wounds with minimal side effects.

We are all familiar with Band-Aid, which fits the skin and is light and soft. Combined with the emerging flexible electronic technology, the Band-Aid will achieve a "gorgeous upgrade" and become a high-end flexible electronic smart wearable product. The uses of such products are not limited to monitoring and healing wounds, but can also be used to monitor health indicators such as blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate, and sleep quality. It is worth pointing out that many flexible electronic products are still in the laboratory stage and still need to work harder to achieve practical application and mass production.