VeCare Platform for Chronic Wound Monitoring
Technology Overview
With a rapidly ageing population, there is a rising incidence of patients suffering from non-healing wounds such as diabetic foot and chronic venous leg ulcers. It has been estimated that 2% of the world’s population suffer from chronic wounds.
Timely care and proper treatment of chronic wounds is necessary for recovery. However, this requires multiple visits to the clinic for lengthy wound assessment and treatment. The current clinical assessment relies on visual inspection and analysis of wound fluid biomarkers that usually takes 1 – 2 days.
To address these limitations, our proposed solution is a point-of-care wound assessment platform that is able to detect wound bacteria and inflammatory biomarkers with 15-minutes test. Through integration with a digital app, this platform enables doctors to monitor the condition of the patients’ chronic wounds remotely.
Technology Specifications
Being the first of its kind in the world, the platform consists of:
A smart bandage with a microfluidic wound fluid collector
An immunosensor able to detect a panel of inflammatory biomarkers, bacteria type, pH and temperature
Electronic chip that transmits data to a paired mobile device
Chronic wound monitoring app
The platform is easily scalable and customisable to accommodate different biomarkers to monitor various types of wounds.
Potential Health Applications
This technology can be used for continuous monitoring of chronic wounds, diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, and external surgical wounds.
For enquiries, please contact Dr Gordon Xiong, HealthTEC Manager, at gordonx@nus.edu.sg .