One of the most potential markets for printed and flexible electronics is healthcare. For instance, a bandage is naturally flexible, but because it has been demonstrated that an electric field can aid in the healing of chronic wounds, it would be a major advancement if it were possible to generate an electric current to encourage the healing process.
Getting the science down is crucial for healthcare approvals, so that's one of the challenges. At the top of the list is creating a product that is affordable, reports David Savastano in Printed Electronics.
Researchers from all over the world are trying to find potential solutions because this might be a big advancement in the treatment of wounds. North Carolina State University is leading one such research team that is making strides in this technology in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Center, Columbia University, and researchers from other institutions and institutes. North Carolina State University and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) provided funding for the study.
The high expense of treating chronic wounds is a significant problem, according to Amay Bandodkar, co-corresponding author of the study and an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University.
“Chronic wounds are a major health problem that affects millions of individuals each year,” said Bandodkar, who along with Rajaram Kaveti, co-first author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher at NC State, are inventors on a patent application related to this work. “The cost for treating chronic wounds is exorbitantly high. It costs several thousands of dollars to treat one chronic wound in the US. We wanted to explore if our prior experience in wearables and biocompatible batteries could be adapted to develop low-cost treatments.”
Related This Smart Bandage Provides Wound Report in Real-Time
One side of these water-powered, electronics-free dressings (WPEDs) is printed with electrodes, and the other side is printed with a tiny, biocompatible battery. The patient is dressed in a way that allows the electrodes to touch the wound. The battery is then activated by applying a drop of water to it. The disposable bandage creates an electric field for a few hours after it is activated.
“That electric field is critical, because it’s well established that electric fields accelerate healing in chronic wounds,” said Kaveti.
Each of the partners is bringing their expertise to the project. The Beth Israel Deaconess Center contributed clinical information, Columbia University carried out the animal studies, and North Carolina State created the bandages. Experts from Korea University, Georgia Tech, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, and the combined biomedical engineering department at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are also part of the research team. They helped with computer simulations.
Bandodkar reported that the recent findings have been promising. The researchers tested the dressings on diabetic mice, finding that the wounds healed approximately 30% faster than wounds that were treated with only occlusive dressings (same as the ones you find in your local store).
“We were excited to see that our hypothesis that electronics-free, low-cost dressings could provide accelerated healing comparable to treatments that rely on expensive biological agents,” said Bandodkar.
“This collaborative project shows that these lightweight bandages, which can provide electrical stimulation simply by adding water, healed wounds faster than the control, at a similar rate as bulkier and more expensive wound treatment,” said Sam Sia, co-corresponding author of the work and professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University, when the initial paper was published.
Ultimately, this system will need to advance to clinical trials. However, the next step is to test the bandages on pigs.
