Pressure-Sensor-Integrated Smart Bandage for the Management of Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) have affected millions of people in the U.S. and posed heavy burdens to patients and the healthcare system due to their being slow to heal, high recurrence rate, and potential risk of amputation and even premature death. A mainstay of DFU therapy is mechanical offloading to mitigate pressure at the ulcer, which, however, is usually not effective due to patients’ diminished sensation capabilities on the foot and low adherence to offloading recommendations. I will present our recent effort in developing a soft, flexible, wireless pressure-sensor-integrated smart bandage system for continuously monitoring the pressure on the foot and alerting the users to offload under exceeded pressure. The pressure sensor exhibits high linearity, negligible hysteresis, fast response time, and excellent water-proof properties relevant to this application. Wireless data transmission onto a smartphone via Bluetooth enables the display and interpretation of the measured pressure with the option of a preset pressure threshold, when exceeded, an alert will be generated for immediate notifications. Trials on healthy subjects demonstrate reliable monitoring performance and effectiveness in aiding offloading. The developed smart bandage system represents a significant advance in the prevention and management of DFUs and other pressure injuries as well as compression therapy corrections.