As a wound heals, it goes through several stages: clotting to stop bleeding, immune system response, scabbing, and scarring. A wearable device called a-Heal aims to optimize each stage of the process. The system, which uses a tiny camera and AI to detect the stage of healing, delivers a treatment in the form of medication or an electric field. The system responds to the unique healing process of the patient, offering personalized treatment.
The portable, wireless device could make wound therapy more accessible to patients in remote areas or with limited mobility. Initial preclinical results show the device successfully speeds up the healing process.
The device combines a camera, bioelectronics, and AI for faster wound healing. The integration in one device makes it a closed-loop system — one of the firsts of its kind for wound healing as far as the researchers are aware.
The treatment topically delivered through the device is fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that controls serotonin levels in the wound and improves healing by decreasing inflammation and increasing wound tissue closure.
