Non-Invasive Telemetric Sensing for Lower Leg Amputee Surface Skin Management

下肢截肢不仅发生在事故或战争之后，而且现在主要发生在溃疡和坏疽之后，作为糖尿病的并发症。截肢后佩戴假肢有助于社会和经济活动和融入，但近75%的腿部截肢者会出现皮肤并发症，这可能导致放弃假肢，并可能导致二次截肢，甚至死亡。随着世界范围内糖尿病的增加，个人和社会的负担越来越大，但早期识别皮肤变化可以触发预防行动。为了解决这个问题，Bioflex Yarns和PST Sensors Europe合作开发了一种肢体监测系统，以被动热调节、无创生理参数监测和基于物联网的数据分析等“尖端”技术为基础，提醒皮肤并发症。这项技术的核心是智能假肢袜子，它穿起来和传统的假肢袜子一样舒适。当问题出现时，截肢者手机上的应用程序会发出警报。个人截肢者将拥有个人信息，直接参与护理，并改变日常生活体验。此外，由于指定的医疗团队可以直接获得临床信息，任何适当的干预措施都可以及时且具有成本效益。多病人截肢者数据库平台可使NHS分配资源，为截肢者提供有针对性的护理，以降低医疗保健费用。

Lower limb amputations not only occur following accidents or war, but now predominantly occur as a complication of diabetes, following ulceration and gangrene. Wearing a prosthesis following amputation facilitates social and economic activity and inclusion, but nearly 75% of leg amputees experience skin complications, which can result in abandoning the prostheses, and may in turn lead to secondary amputation, and even death. With the world-wide increase in diabetes, there is an increasing burden for the individual and for society, but early recognition of skin changes could trigger preventative action. To address this problem, Bioflex Yarns and PST Sensors Europe have joined forces to develop a limb monitoring system to alert for skin complications, to be based on 'cutting-edge' technologies in passive thermal regulation, non-invasive monitoring of physiological parameters, and IoT based data analysis. At the centre of the technology is the smart prosthesis sock, which is as comfortable to wear as a traditional prosthesis sock. An app on the amputee’s mobile phone alerts when problems commence. The individual amputee will have personal information, direct involvement in care, and a transformed daily living experience. Furthermore, with the clinical information directly accessible to the designated medical team, any appropriate intervention can be timely and cost effective. The multi-patient amputee database platform can allow the NHS to allocate resources to provide targeted care to amputees, for reduced health care costs.