A wound is defined as damage to the body resulting from various causes. It usually involves a break in the protective membrane of the skin and often extends by damaging underlying tissues, categorized as acute or chronic. These complex wounds present significant challenges for patients and have a major financial impact on our healthcare system. Approximately 4% of the European healthcare budget is spent on complex wound treatment. Additionally, costs are expected to rise due to an aging population and the prevalence of lifestyle-related disorders such as obesity and diabetes. Furthermore, complex wounds are associated with increasing hospital admissions and a reduced quality of life.
The wound healing process, especially when impaired, is a multifaceted phenomenon influenced by numerous factors. These factors include skin temperature, pH value, moisture content, vascularization, the composition of biological fluids (such as uric acid), and partial oxygen pressure. So far, conventional wound dressings cannot monitor the wound bed and the environment under the dressing, nor can they directly respond to changing wound parameters such as pH, temperature, etc. As a result, unnecessary dressing changes occur, which can disrupt the wound healing process. Moreover, unnecessary dressing changes add extra costs. The next generation of wound dressings, as the primary objective of this project, aims to monitor essential chemical and physical parameters involved in wound healing. However, to date, little is known about the evolution of these parameters in a wound. Temperature, pH, moisture content, and blood flow will change during the healing process, but their interrelationship is not well understood. Monitoring these parameters over time will provide insight into how these values change during the healing process.
Furthermore, sensors that measure these parameters need to be designed with suitable materials that are biocompatible and do not cause adverse reactions upon contact with the wound. Therefore, this proposal addresses several of the current limitations in wound care by exploring the development of smart wound dressings through innovative sensor fusion technology, including an artificial intelligence platform for data analysis. Tackling these challenges requires interdisciplinary collaboration, utilizing expertise in materials science, biomedical engineering, sensor technology, data analysis, toxicology, and clinical wound care. This research not only aims to bridge these knowledge gaps but also has the potential to revolutionize wound care by offering more personalized, efficient, and effective treatment strategies.
