SmartDerm

Real-time monitoring & management for pressure ulcer prevention

Principal Investigator: Hanmin Lee, MD
Team Members: Isabelle Chumfong, MD, Sachin Rangarajan, MTM, Sharvari Deshpande, MS

Challenge

Pressure ulcers, or bedsores, are a serious medical condition that occurs in 2.5 million patients annually, resulting in 60,000 deaths and a $13 billion burden to the U.S healthcare system. These sores form from pressure accumulation on bony prominences (e.g. sacrum, heels) in immobile patients leading to tissue injury, and can take months to years to heal. 

Solution

To address this issue, SmartDerm proposes a comprehensive pressure ulcer prevention system consisting of intelligent sensor patches that continuously collect data across multiple modalities such as pressure and oxygenation, from which machine learning algorithms predict the likelihood of ulcer formation. This information is analyzed and presented to nurses to streamline their workflow and enable data-driven intervention efforts. Eventually, this data will be used to actuate a localized, wearable automated repositioning device that continuously prevents ischemia by redistributing pressure from high risk areas, thus creating a "bundle solution" that can run in the background at hospitals, actively preventing ulcers.

Funding

CTSI Catalyst (Fall 2013, Spring 2015)
UC Office of the President/Center for Health Quality & Innovation/Office of Risk Services

Publications

• Chung P, Rowe A, Etemadi M, Lee H, Roy S. Fabric-based pressure sensor array for decubitus ulcer monitoring. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2013 Jul;2013:6506-9.

Featured Media

Isabelle Chumfong and Claire Graves Tackle Biodesign Challenges through Innovation Pathway - UCSF Surgical Innovations - July 3, 2017
SmartDerm Wants to Stop Bedsores Before They Start - UCSF Synapse - February 3, 2015