BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Scientists have recently come up with smart sutures which may help to monitor the state of health of a person. These types of stitches may one day reach mass production. These tiny threads may tell doctors if a wound is healing as it should, or if it becomes infected. Experts have invented a smart suture which wirelessly transmits this type of data.
It’s got mini-sensors and electronics attached to the thread, which may be made of synthetic material or cotton and it withstands diverse mediums and compounds.
Experts believe that someday the thread could be used as sutures to close an incision on the operating table. The information it will convey will largely be the same. It could also keep track of various biomarkers.
For example, it could monitor glucose, monitor PH or it could monitor potassium and sodium ions. With different threads that tell you what your health is, this is a major step forward for medicine. These threads could be made into a patch so that healthy skin functions can be monitored too, for example, metabolic activity in athletes.
This thread was developed with the objective of healing the wound, in mind. By measuring the PH, the body chemistry levels and temperatures, doctors could predict whether an infection is brewing or not.
A description of this thread was published in the on-line journal Microsystems and Nanoengineering.
Experts believe these sutures are greatly improved compared to other biological diagnose devices. Most of the latter categories are flat sensors, and this means they can’t be used on human skin. The smart thread is very flexible and could be woven on skin, to an internal organ, or at the site of an implant.
Wire the size of a human hair is attached to the thread. It is connected to a circuit which conveys wireless information, to a cell phone. This way, doctors have access to live biomarkers inside the tissue.
So far, the initial results look promising, even though further study is needed.
What’s your opinion on this interesting matter? Do you think we’ll get a chance to see these high-tech sutures implemented during our lifetimes? Leave a comment below! Let’s hope hackers don’t get hold of these electronic thread devices!
Image Source – Wikipedia