A smart wound sensor may help treat diabetic foot ulcers better and prevent the need for lower limb amputations, according to a new experiment run by Nottingham University.
According to studies, wound care costs the NHS £8.3 billion annually, or about 4% of the overall budget.
Diabetes-related foot ulcers account for 10–12% of that total and cost the NHS close to £1 billion annually.
The 7,000 amputations related to diabetic foot ulcers that occur in England each year could be reduced with better monitoring of these lesions, which could also result in financial and time savings.
The project team is creating a dressing containing optical fiber sensors that can determine whether injured tissue is healing or infected, supported by a grant of around £1 million from the Medical Research Council.
Ten diabetic individuals with foot ulcers will participate in a smart wound system trial in which the dressings will be placed and checked every two weeks for a total of eight weeks for each patient.
The wounds will be examined during consultations, and smart dressings will be applied for up to an hour while being observed and measurements are obtained.
According to the researchers, the dressings will cost more than existing treatments up front.
However, the team hopes to prove that this will be offset by fewer dressing changes or clinical visits as well as better patient outcomes.
The project team includes clinicians at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham-based smart textiles company Footfalls and Heartbeats, and the Clinical Engineering Department at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
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