A novel optical imaging probe system for assessing wound healing and infection

描述(申请人提供)：慢性无法愈合的伤口继续给临床医生带来巨大的挑战。据估计，新的慢性伤口患者有110-180万人 每年约有800万美国人遭受慢性创伤。更糟糕的是，慢性伤口往往使患者容易感染。由于缺乏监测伤口愈合状况和早期诊断伤口感染的有效方法，这一问题变得更加复杂。利用光学成像技术的最新发展，该项目的总体目标是开发一种多功能成像探头，用于评估人类伤口的愈合和感染。具体地说，最近的许多研究表明，碱性(pH&gt；7.4)伤口环境是慢性伤口的一个指标。研究还表明，细菌定植在慢性伤口和碱性环境中更可取。此外，感染可能会推迟伤口愈合，并导致无法愈合。因此，我们认为，开发用于检测伤口pH值变化和细菌定植的成像探针，将成为早期检测未愈合伤口和伤口感染的有力工具。为了实现这一目标，本工作旨在创造一系列近红外细菌/pH多功能探针，可以测量伤口内pH的变化和细菌的存在。这项拟议工作的成功完成将有助于开发一个新的伤口护理技术平台。这项技术可以很容易地实施，以监测伤口愈合的程度和慢性伤口患者感染的可能性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Chronic non-healing wounds continue to pose great challenges to clinicians. It is estimated that there are 1.1-1.8 million new chronic wound patients each year and approximately 8 million Americans suffering from chronic wounds. To make the situation worse, chronic wounds often predispose the patients to infection. The problem is compounded by the lack of effective methods to monitor the wound healing status and for the early diagnosis of wound infection. Taking advantage of the recent developments in optical imaging technology, the overall goal of this project is to develop a multifunctional imaging probe for assessing wound healing and infection in humans. Specifically, many recent studies have shown that an alkaline (pH > 7.4) wound environment is an indicator of a chronic wound. It has also been shown that bacterial colonization is preferable in a chronic wound and alkaline environment. In addition, infection may delay wound healing and lead to an inability to heal. Hence, we believe that the development of imaging probes to detect the wound pH changes and bacterial colonization, would serve as powerful tools for early detection of non-healing wounds and wound infection. To achieve the goal, this proposed work is aimed at creating a series of near infrared bacteria/pH multifunctional probes which can measure pH changes and bacteria presence in the wound. The successful completion of this proposed work will aid in the development of a new platform of wound care technology. This technology can be easily implemented for monitoring the extent of wound healing and the potential for infection in chronic wound patients.