Investigating Foot Ulcer Infection Status via Novel Sensors v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the ability of disposable electrochemical sensors to detect diabetes-related foot ulcer infection through measurements of wound swabs and used dressings
IRAS ID
293662
Contact name
Andrew Collier
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Strathclyde
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Infection is usually detrimental to diabetes wound healing, significantly prolonging recovery times and potentially leading to further serious complications, illnesses and, in the cases of diabetes foot ulcers, amputation. Currently the detection of wound infection relies upon the observation of patient symptoms, followed by sampling (often via swabbing), and a series of selective culturing techniques performed by expert staff. This ‘gold standard’ testing method is time-consuming and it is typical for even initial microbiology results to take a minimum of 48 hours to be obtained. Development of an in-situ infection detection device, such as the sensor being tested in this investigation, could enable far more rapid detection and identification of bacterial infection in diabetes-related foot ulcers and reduce the incidence of serious consequences such as amputation and sepsis. Ultimately, the sensor would enable the most appropriate targeted treatment (such as antibiotics) to be selected far earlier than currently possible.
This study aims to test the feasibility of using electrochemical sensors to detect infection in diabetes-related foot ulcers. This will be done via impedance measurements of rehydrated wound swabs and wound dressings using a disposable sensor over several hours. Swabs and wound dressings will be obtained from patients at University Hospital Ayr who have a diabetes-related foot ulcer being attended to by clinical staff. Samples will be transported for laboratory rehydration, measurement and analysis at the University of Strathclyde’s flagship Technology and Innovation Centre. A comparison will be made between patients with wounds which show clinical signs of infection, and those which do not. Additionally, the agreement between the hospital microbiology laboratory analysis and the impedance sensor analysis will be assessed.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/WM/0065
Date of REC Opinion
26 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion