The wound healing process may not be as fast as it will vary from person to person. These are not just simple cuts and bruises that will heal in less than a week, although they also require gentle care. There are also the well-known chronic wounds that take a long time to heal completely.
It is the wounds that require surgery in most cases. Cases of non-healing ulcers or serious burns, often caused by the process of diabetes. It has been estimated, for example, that Brazil has about 5 million people with wounds similar to these.
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Thinking about this prolonged treatment, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), guided by a group of scientists, has developed a treatment method with the “smart bandage” to ensure monitored and rapid healing.
The study was published in article in the magazine Science Advances and it is possible to follow the process in detail here in this article.
Caltech researchers aligned the perspectives of a condition that is difficult to heal with a bioelectronic system capable of monitoring the wound. The electronic fulfills the role of monitoring the wound and applying small stimuli to ensure healing.
The biggest problem with chronic injuries, as the researchers said, is submission to invasive processes - such as surgery – and palliative treatments with extremely strong drugs, inducing the patient to be in a condition delicate. For them, this is a problem that people face every day around the world.
The bandage will look like a plaque or patch that can be discarded. Composed of a hydrogel with the ideal amount for medication, biosensors and electrodes. In addition to these steps, the devices will allow the application of small electrical stimuli, which makes a total difference in this process.
The biosensors will be able to monitor the pH of the wound, the patient's glucose levels, the temperature of the site and the amounts of lactate and uric acid that are in the wound. This evaluation along with the electrical stimulus will make healing faster, also releasing ideal amounts of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories in the wound.
For now, tests are being done in the labs to test wounds from diabetic rats and injured mice. The experiment so far has shown an intense healing of the wounds in the rats that presented the conditions of a diabetic.
The researchers will move on to work and tests on humans after the laboratory completes the research. The expectation of the product is good, but it may only be commercialized in the next 10 years.
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