PFI-TT: Optical Sensing Patch for Early Detection of Pressure Ulcers

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目如果成功，其更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是通过在最早阶段发现压疮而大大减少压疮的流行。压疮通常被称为压疮，是一种使人虚弱的伤口，普遍影响卧床不起的患者和轮椅使用者，估计每年有250万人。除了疼痛和痛苦，压疮还可能导致感染和死亡率增加，每年给美国医疗体系带来100亿美元的负担。目前对高危患者的护理标准依赖于定期的皮肤评估和身体重新定位，但研究表明，这种治疗效果有限。这一工程项目将产生人体对长期压力的反应的科学证据，这将吸引行业利益相关者和投资者致力于能够检测压疮的智能传感贴片的商业化，该项目将使未来的临床前和临床验证研究成为FDA批准和医院采用产品所必需的。重要的是，这个项目还将为工程学毕业生提供大量的创业培训和现场经验，他们将进一步开发这项技术的商业化方面。拟议的项目将通过成像和数学描述人体皮肤和潜在组织在长期承受压力后发生的光学变化，在应用光学成像和生物医学工程领域产生开创性的知识。为了实现这一目标，研究小组将使用一种可穿戴的、非侵入性的光学贴片，应用于已知卧床患者有发生压疮风险的骶骨区域。目前还没有其他成像技术提供关于人体对可能最终导致压疮的长期压力的反应的定量证据；因此，该项目的结果将解决这一领域的一个重大技术障碍。这项研究产生的数据还将为灵活和一次性智能补丁的技术特征提供信息，该补丁针对成本和性能进行了优化，以促进未来的商业化努力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project, if successful, will be a major reduction in the prevalence of pressure ulcers achieved through their detection at the earliest stage. More commonly known as bedsores, pressure ulcers are debilitating wounds that prevalently affect bed-bound patients and wheelchair users, estimated at 2.5 million annually. In addition to pain and suffering, pressure ulcers may lead to infection and increased mortality, and they impose a $10 billion burden on the US healthcare system every year. The current standard of care for at-risk patients relies on periodic skin assessments and body repositioning, but research shows that this treatment has limited impact. This engineering project will generate scientific evidence of the body's response to prolonged pressure, which will engage industry stakeholders and investors toward the commercialization of a smart sensing patch capable of detecting pressure ulcers, and the project will enable future pre-clinical and clinical validation studies necessary for FDA clearance and product adoption by hospitals. Importantly, this project will also provide substantial entrepreneurial training and field experience to an engineering graduate who will further develop the commercialization aspects of the technology.The proposed project will generate groundbreaking knowledge in the field of applied optical imaging and biomedical engineering by imaging and describing mathematically the optical changes occurring in human skin and underlying tissues after exposure to prolonged pressure in a large variety of individuals. To achieve this goal, the team will use a wearable, non-invasive optical patch applied to the sacral area that is known to be at risk of pressure ulcer development in bed-bound patients. No other imaging technology has yet provided quantitative evidence regarding the response of the body to prolonged pressure that may ultimately lead to pressure ulcers; therefore, the outcome of this project will solve a significant technical barrier in this field. Data generated by this study will also inform the technical features of a flexible and disposable smart patch optimized for both cost and performance to facilitate future commercialization efforts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.