Skin Adhesive Smart Patch to Monitor Hydration Status in Real-Time

脱水是一种常见的，但严重的后果，对一些人群，包括患者患有头部和颈部 癌症（HNC）、姑息治疗患者、中风幸存者和老年人。它可能导致住院治疗，甚至死亡。在一个 在美国，一年的住院治疗中，有10，000人在入院时死于脱水。此外， 据估计，预防因脱水而入院可以为美国卫生系统节省10亿至50亿美元， 美元每年。这些风险的人口和卫生保健系统是不必要的，因为脱水在很大程度上是 可预防，尤其是通过监测。然而，大多数水化测试需要血液或尿液分析，这是非常重要的。 对于一般人来说，定期进行是不切实际的。不断监测将是一个理想的解决办法， 脱水的问题，并可以通过水化传感器实现;水化传感器的笨重， 然而，这是一个重大挑战。在这里，一个电子贴片，坚持到病人的皮肤提出监测 日常生活中的水化。电子贴片是薄的并且可拉伸的以模仿皮肤的机械特性，因此， 可穿戴在皮肤上，具有最小的不适感。贴片中安装了无线通信功能，可实现通信 个人便携式设备，如智能手机。健康志愿者和HNC患者的器械确认 正在接受化疗的患者被提出来证明这种新方法的有效性。简单而舒适的性质 可穿戴传感器具有从根本上防止各种高风险环境中脱水相关并发症的潜力 人口。最后，与智能手机连接的能力开启了彻底改变医疗服务系统的可能性。 通过允许患者在家中接受监测，将他们的数据自动发送给他们的医疗保健提供者， 当有脱水的危险时发出警报。

Dehydration is a common, but serious, consequence for several populations, including patients suffering from head and neck cancer (HNC), patients in palliative care, stroke survivors, and seniors. It can lead to hospitalization and even death. In one year of hospitalizations in the US, 10,000 people died because of dehydration upon admission. Furthermore, it has been estimated that prevention of dehydration-based hospital admissions could save the US health system from 1 to 5 billion dollars every year. These risks to the population and the health care system are unnecessary because dehydration is largely preventable, especially with monitoring. However, most tests for hydration require either a blood or urine analysis, which is not practical for the average person to undertake on a regular basis. Constant monitoring would be a desirable solution to the problem of dehydration, and could be achieved through hydration sensors; the bulkiness of hydration sensors has however been the major challenge. Here, an electronic patch that adheres to the patients skin is proposed to monitor hydration in everyday life. The electronic patch is thin and stretchable to mimic the mechanical properties of skin and, thus, is wearable on the skin with minimal discomfort. Wireless communication is installed in the patch to enable communication with personal portable appliances, such as smart phones. Device validation to healthy volunteers and HNC patients undergoing chemotherapy are proposed to prove the efficacy of the novel approach. The simple and comfortable nature of the wearable sensor has a potential to fundamentally prevent dehydration-related complications within various high-risk populations. Finally, the ability to connect with smart phones opens the possibility to revolutionize the health delivery system by allowing patients to be monitored at home, to have their data sent automatically to their health care providers, and to be alerted when there is a risk of dehydration.