Wirelessly operated bioelectronic sutures for the monitoring of deep surgical wounds
- October 21, 2021
Wirelessly operated bioelectronic sutures for the monitoring of deep surgical wounds
Viveka Kalidasan, Xin Yang, Ze Xiong, Renee R. Li, Haicheng Yao, Hareesh Godaba, Sybil Obuobi, Priti Singh, Xin Guan, Xi Tian, Selman A. Kurt, Zhipeng Li, Devika Mukherjee, Ravisankar Rajarethinam, Choon Seng Chong, Jiong-Wei Wang, Pui Lai Rachel Ee, Weiqiang Loke, Benjamin C. K. Tee, Jianyong Ouyang, Christopher J. Charles & John S. Ho
Abstract
Monitoring surgical wounds post-operatively is necessary to prevent infection, dehiscence and other complications. However, the monitoring of deep surgical sites is typically limited to indirect observations or to costly radiological investigations that often fail to detect complications before they become severe. Bioelectronic sensors could provide accurate and continuous monitoring from within the body, but the form factors of existing devices are not amenable to integration with sensitive wound tissues and to wireless data transmission. Here we show that multifilament surgical sutures functionalized with a conductive polymer and incorporating pledgets with capacitive sensors operated via radiofrequency identification can be used to monitor physicochemical states of deep surgical sites. We show in live pigs that the sutures can monitor wound integrity, gastric leakage and tissue micromotions, and in rodents that the healing outcomes are equivalent to those of medical-grade sutures. Battery-free wirelessly operated bioelectronic sutures may facilitate post-surgical monitoring in a wide range of interventions.
