Recently, we had the honor of collaborating with the South Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA) and the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona on a research paper regarding Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs) and the use of a real-time smart textile-based system to monitor pressure offloading. There are 347 million diabetics in the world today with a projected growth to a half billion by 2030. Every thirty seconds a limb is lost to diabetes. In fact, for a diabetic patient, the lifetime risk of developing a DFU is around 25%. A DFU carries a 50% risk for infection and at least 20% of those patients suffer some form of lower limb amputation. The most significant parameter that prevents or delays ulcer healing is high plantar pressure. To improve the patient’s healing process, the DFU’s plantar pressure should remain cumulatively low. Therefore, a tool that continuously measures the DFU offloading, and provides real-time feedback can improve the healing outcome. The system utilized in the methodology for this research contains a textile pressure sensor attached to a stretchable band, Sensoria Core hardware, an app and a web dashboard for the clinician to view the data. The result was that we were able to demonstrate the feasibility of developing such a system and characterizing the pressure response of the device. As a result, we exhibited a viable method for monitoring DFU off-loading and alerting in real-time. In conclusion, the study shows the feasibility to develop a simple, modular wearable system that opens up new possibilities for diabetic foot ulcer care by providing a way of monitoring the pressure under the ulcer in real-time. You can view more details at http://bit.ly/2mMjFCU or send a message to info@sensoriainc.com.
In addition, Davide Vigano, CEO and Co-Founder, spoke at the DFCon Global Conference in Houston yesterday. Sensoria Advisory Board Member, Dr. David Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the event.
