Trials begin for smart wound sensors

Patient trials involving people with diabetes-related foot ulcers aim to deliver a ‘step change’ in the care of chronic wounds.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham, UK, have received a £902,524 grant from the Medical Research Council to develop a smart wound dressing embedded with optical fibre sensors to assess whether affected tissue is healing or infected.

It is being trialled at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust.

Wound management costs stand at £8.3bln a year, representing more than 4% of the NHS budget. Diabetes-related foot ulcers are estimated at between £837-£962mln of this cost. Better monitoring has the potential to reduce the 7,000-plus lower limb amputations for people with diabetes in England every year. 

Ten patients with these wounds will have the dressings applied and monitored on a fortnightly basis for a total of eight weeks per patient over the study. During appointments, the wounds will be assessed, and smart dressing applied for up to one hour under observation while measurements are taken.  

Although the dressings will cost more than an average dressing up front, researchers hope to prove this will be offset by fewer dressing changes or clinical visits and reduced healing time.