Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here. Sometimes a wound requires a bandage,
Speaker 1: But what if that bandage wasn't just a passive way
Speaker 1: to prevent infection. What if a bandage could play an
Speaker 1: active role in diagnosis and recovery. This idea that bandages
Speaker 1: can be smart is behind a new invention by a
Speaker 1: team of engineers at Tufts University. The team developed a
Speaker 1: flexible bandage less than three millimeters thick that surround an
Speaker 1: eighth of an inch that actively monitors chronic wounds and
Speaker 1: then responds by delivering wound specific drug treatments to promote healing.
Speaker 1: In a news release, co authors samirsan Kusl, a PhD
Speaker 1: and professor of electrical and Computer engineering at Tufts University
Speaker 1: School of Engineering, said, we've been able to take a
Speaker 1: new approach to bandages because of the emergence of flexible electronics.
Speaker 1: In fact, flexible electronics have made many wearable medical devices possible,
Speaker 1: but bandages have changed little since the beginnings of medicine.
Speaker 1: We are simply applying modern technology to an ancient art
Speaker 1: and the hopes of improving outcomes for an intractable problem.
Speaker 1: The research, if successful in clinical settings, could transform the
Speaker 1: future of bandages. This could be an important advancement for
Speaker 1: people with chronic skin wounds that are difficult to heal,
Speaker 1: such as those arising from burns or diabetes. The smart
Speaker 1: bandages have pH and temperature sensors to measure the primary
Speaker 1: markers of wound healing. The pH balance for optimal wound
Speaker 1: healing is a range from five point five to six
Speaker 1: point five, while wounds that are not healing will have
Speaker 1: a pach range above six point five. An elevated temperature
Speaker 1: at the wound site indicates inflammation is taking place and
Speaker 1: that a wound is also not healing. A separate bandage
Speaker 1: prototype made by the team also takes oxygenation into account,
Speaker 1: signaling whether a wound is healing optimally. The real time
Speaker 1: data from the bandages sensors is read by a microprocessor
Speaker 1: that can then signal an on demand antibiotic release, creating
Speaker 1: a better environment four wounds to heal. The next step
Speaker 1: for Toughs University's smart bandages is to test them in
Speaker 1: a clinical setting and see how the concept stacks up
Speaker 1: against other smart bandages, including one designed by researchers at
Speaker 1: the University of Nebraska that uses a smartphone as the
Speaker 1: remote control to deliver medication. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Laurie L. Dove and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: has merch now. You can get phone cases, tope bags,
Speaker 1: and of course T shirts. Every purchase helps keep the
Speaker 1: show going and supports us directly. You can find all
Speaker 1: that stuff at t public dot com slash brain Stuff.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other smart topics,
Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com