Breakthrough electronic sewing technology improves wound care by monitoring inflammation in real time

The announcement on July 30 (Tuesday) said that the research team led by Professor Jaehong Lee from the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST; President Kunwoo Lee) and Professor Jungseung Lee from the Department of Global Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, successfully developed an electronic suture that can monitor changes in inflammation around wounds in real time. The electronic suture is expected to significantly contribute to wound care and personalized care in various fields of medicine.

The wound healing process is very complex and highly dependent on the surrounding environment. If healing is delayed due to improper care, the wound can become chronic, which can potentially lead to amputation, disability, and even death. It is especially important to constantly and carefully monitor the condition of a chronic wound and diagnose infections early.

Although a variety of wound care devices have been developed to perform this function, most are bandages or patches. These devices can only diagnose a wound at the skin’s surface and therefore have limited ability to accurately assess wound healing or inflammation deeper than the skin’s surface layer.

To solve this problem, Professor Jaehong Lee’s research team, in collaboration with Professor Jungseung Lee’s team at Sungkyunkwan University, successfully developed a suture-type wound monitoring system that can monitor wound inflammation inside and outside the body for a long time. While the system works like a regular surgical suture to close a wound, it can also detect changes in wound inflammation at the suture site in real time.

Traditional surgical sutures are only used to close the wound. However, the developed electronic suture adds the function of continuous monitoring of wound inflammation, which enables more effective wound treatment in practice. The electronic suture can detect wound inflammation in real time to help receive the right treatment. In addition, it can detect infectious conditions at an early stage, ensuring that treatment is not missed and helping the wound heal more effectively.

This study increases the likelihood of using electronic suture technology in medical practice. We will be doing more active research not only in the development of electronic sutures but also in the field of wearable healthcare devices that can measure various types of vital signs.”

Professor Jaehong Lee

Meanwhile, this study was led by Professor Jaehong Lee from the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, DGIST, and Professor Jungseung Lee from the Department of Global Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, participated in the study as a corresponding author. The results of this study were published on July 17 (Wednesday) in Advanced functional materials (IF: 18.5), one of the most renowned international journals in the field of materials science. This study was supported by the Korea Medical Device Development Fund’s Government-wide Full-cycle Medical Device Development Project and the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Excellent New Researcher Project, Basic Research Laboratory Project and Biomedical Technology Development Project.