Doctors to develop ‘intelligent dressings’

8:12am Tuesday 12th August 2008

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DOCTORS in the region are helping to develop a “smart dressing” that could change the way patients’ wounds are managed and help their recovery.

The project, costing more than £1m, involves doctors at the South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, working with local industry and universities.

The dressings would give doctors immediate information about patients, rather than having to send off biopsies and waiting for the results.

Andrew Owens, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon who is collaborating on the project with clinical director of plastic and reconstruction surgery Martin Coady, said: “This is very much a collaborative approach using the expertise of local companies, universities and clinicians, thanks to major Government funding.

“Our aim is to develop a dressing which not only helps the wound heal but tells clinicians about the underlying state of the wound, for example it is infected?

“It is made up of a scaffold coated with a special gel which has properties that allow sampling of the wound without disrupting healing.

“The gel can then be removed and put into a machine for testing while the scaffold stays in place.

“We are at the very earliest stages of development, but our ultimate aim is to test it on patients. Predominantly, it would be used in plastic and reconstruction surgery, but if successful, it could have huge implications for wound management and be used for acute and chronic wounds, chronic diabetic leg ulcers and traumatic front of leg ulcers.”

The project involves three Northern companies – Complement Genomics Ltd, Neotherix Ltd and SensaPharm Ltd – in association with Nottingham and Durham Universities and the National Physical Laboratory.