Wireless and Closed-Loop Smart Dressing for Exudate Management and On-Demand Treatment of Chronic Wounds.

Abstract

Chronic wounds have become a significant threat to people's physical and mental health and have increased the burden of social medical care. Intelligent wound dressing (IWD) with wound condition monitoring and closed-loop on-demand drug therapy can shorten the healing process and alleviate patient suffering. However, single-function wound dressings cannot meet the current needs of chronic wound treatment. Here, a wearable IWD consisting of wound exudate management, sensor monitoring, closed-loop therapy, and flexible circuit modules is reported, which can achieve effective synergy between wound exudate management and on-demand wound therapy. The dressing is attached to the wound site, and the wound exudate is spontaneously pumped into the microfluidic channel for storage. Meanwhile, the IWD can detect the state of the wound through the temperature and humidity sensor, and use this as feedback to control the liquid metal (LM) heater through a smartphone, thereby realizing the on-demand drug release from the hydrogel. In a mouse model of infected wounds, IWD accelerates wound healing by reducing inflammatory responses, promoting angiogenesis and collagen deposition.