Study proposes smart sutures with sensors for wounds
(Phys.org)—What if sutures could be coated with sensors to monitor wounds and speed healing? A recent study published in the journal Small indicates materials and methods that show it may be part of the medical science future. Researchers working with advanced materials applied to medicine have built "smartened" sutures with ultrathin silicon sensors to measure temperature at a wound site—elevated temperatures indicate infection—and to deliver heat to a wound site to aid healing. The study, published online, is titled "Thin, Flexible Sensors and Actuators as 'Instrumented' Surgical Sutures for Targeted Wound Monitoring and Therapy." The study authors present two types of temperature sensors on the sutures, a silicon diode that shifts current output with temperature, and platinum nanomembrane resistor, changing its resistance with temperature. Gold filaments that heat up when current passes through them serve as the micro-heaters.