Smart Sutures

Researchers at Tufts University are experimenting with smart thread sutures that could provide electronic feedback to recovering patients. The paper, entitled “A toolkit of thread-based microfluidics, sensors, and electronics for 3D tissue embedding for medical diagnosis”, is fairly academic, but does describe how threads can work as pH sensors, strain gauges, blood sugar monitors, temperature monitors, and more.

Conductive thread is nothing new but usually thought of as part of a smart garment. In this case, the threads close up wounds and are thus directly in the patient’s body. In many cases, the threads talked to an XBee LilyPad or a Bluetooth Low Energy module so that an ordinary cell phone can collect the data.

Of course, sewing strange conductive thread into your body isn’t something most would try out on their own. Still, some of the thread techniques could be useful in other contexts.

We’ve looked at conductive thread several times in the past. We also saw conductive thread in a jacket to help kids learn to ski (which coincidentally used a Flora, similar to a LilyPad).

Filed under: Medical hacks, wearable hacks

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