Latest news on health and life
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, 8 August 2024
Newly developed battery-operated electric patches could accelerate wound healing, a new study reports.
In animal studies, wounds treated with electric bandages healed 30% faster than wounds treated with conventional bandages, researchers reported August 7 in the journal Scientific advances.
According to researchers, the patches could significantly change the treatment of slow-healing wounds caused by diabetes and other chronic diseases. With such wounds, the risk of amputation and death is significantly increased.
“Our goal was to develop a much more cost-effective technology that would accelerate healing in patients with chronic wounds,” said researcher Amay Bandodkar, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University.
“We also wanted to make sure the technology was simple enough for people to use at home, rather than something patients could only receive in clinical settings,” Bandodkar noted in a university press release.
The study is part of a larger effort funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to accelerate wound healing through various types of innovative wound dressings, the researchers said.
These electrical bandages have electrodes on one side and a small water-powered battery on the other, the researchers said.
The bandage is applied so that the electrodes touch the wound and the battery is activated with a drop of water. The bandage then generates an electric field for several hours.
“This electric field is critical because it is well known that electric fields accelerate the healing of chronic wounds,” said lead researcher Rajaram Kaveti, a postdoctoral fellow at NC State.
The electrodes are flexible so they can maintain contact with deep and irregularly shaped wounds, the researchers said.
“We tested the dressings in diabetic mice, which are a commonly used model for human wound healing,” said lead researcher Maggie Jakus, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at Columbia University.
“We found that electrical stimulation from the device accelerates wound closure, promotes new blood vessel formation and reduces inflammation, all of which indicate overall improved wound healing,” Jakus said.
What’s important is that the bandages are cheap. “We’re talking about a few dollars in overhead per bandage,” said Bandodkar.
Next, the researchers plan to fine-tune the electrical field generated by the bandage to prepare for clinical trials on humans.
Research is still in its early stages and experts point out that animal testing on humans is not always successful.
“Diabetic foot ulcers are a serious problem that can lead to lower extremity amputation,” said researcher Aristidis Veves, professor of surgery at the Beth Israel Deaconess Center in Boston. “There is an urgent need for new therapeutic approaches, as the last one approved by the Food and Drug Administration was developed more than 25 years ago.”
The new dressing could “revolutionize the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers,” Veves said.
SOURCE: North Carolina State University, press release, August 7, 2024
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
ASK
Emotional trauma is best described as a psychological reaction to a deeply distressing or life-threatening experience.
See answer
