Full textile Sensoric Wound Pads

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Kai-Uwe Zirk
• Subject Area: Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 313500216

Changes of dressings to inspect the wounds are the principal way to monitor wounds after a medical wound care. The overall objective is to demonstrate and document the principles, as well as the individual suitability of wound pads with integrated fibre sensors to monitor the condition of acute wounds using several measures in special cases. Smart functionalised wound pads (in connection to an electronic measuring and control unit) would safe dressing changes, if they were able to show the condition of the wounds on the surface. These sensor fibres do not disturb or change the features of textile wound pads, they stay soft and mouldable, absorbent and protective, just as the non-functionalised pads. The ongoing research project aims to proof the principle usability of such wound pads measuring the relevant changes, such as temperature, humidity and expansion indicating an infection, wound breakdown or bulgling of the wounded tissue. To enable the best possible utilisation and non-dysfunction reliability in wound pads, the goal is to find the most suitable combinations of systematic assessments from amongst multiple combinations of these. Therefore, for the three relevant quantities in vitro an optimised structure-measuring combination concerning alterations in quantity and signal-noise-distance should be found. In case of sufficient usability of single combinations (with respect to discriminative characteristics in their medical use, determined beforehand) they are examined in an additional step in technical wound models, which need to be developed.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants