Wireless, skin-interfaced sensors for compression therapy

Yoonseok Park; Kyeongha Kwon; Sung Soo Kwak; Da Som Yang; Jean Won Kwak; Haiwen Luan; Ted S Chung; Keum San Chun; Jong Uk Kim; Hokyung Jang; Hanjun Ryu; Hyoyoung Jeong; Sang Min Won; Youn J Kang; Michael Zhang; David Pontes; Brianna R Kampmeier; Seon Hee Seo; Jeffrey Zhao; Inhwa Jung; Yonggang Huang; Shuai Xu; John A Rogers

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abe1655

Wireless, skin-interfaced sensors for compression therapy

Sci Adv. 2020 Dec 4;6(49):eabe1655. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe1655. Print 2020 Dec.

Authors

Yoonseok Park^{1

2}, Kyeongha Kwon³, Sung Soo Kwak^{1

2

4}, Da Som Yang^{1

2}, Jean Won Kwak^{1

2

5}, Haiwen Luan^{1

2

5

6}, Ted S Chung^{1

2

7}, Keum San Chun⁸, Jong Uk Kim^{1

9}, Hokyung Jang¹⁰, Hanjun Ryu^{1

2}, Hyoyoung Jeong^{1

2}, Sang Min Won¹¹, Youn J Kang^{1

2}, Michael Zhang², David Pontes², Brianna R Kampmeier², Seon Hee Seo^{1

12}, Jeffrey Zhao¹³, Inhwa Jung¹⁴, Yonggang Huang^{1

2

5

6

15}, Shuai Xu^{16

2

13}, John A Rogers^{2

5

7

15

16

17}

Affiliations

¹ Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
² Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
³ School of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
⁴ School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
⁶ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
⁷ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
⁸ Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
⁹ School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
¹⁰ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
¹¹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
¹² Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center, Creative and Fundamental Research Division, Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), Changwon 51543, Republic of Korea.
¹³ Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 17104, Republic of Korea.
¹⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
¹⁶ Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. stevexu@northwestern.edu jrogers@northwestern.edu.
¹⁷ Department of Neurological Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.

Abstract

Therapeutic compression garments (TCGs) are key tools for the management of a wide range of vascular lower extremity conditions. Proper use of TCGs involves application of a minimum and consistent pressure across the lower extremities for extended periods of time. Slight changes in the characteristics of the fabric and the mechanical properties of the tissues lead to requirements for frequent measurements and corresponding adjustments of the applied pressure. Existing sensors are not sufficiently small, thin, or flexible for practical use in this context, and they also demand cumbersome, hard-wired interfaces for data acquisition. Here, we introduce a flexible, wireless monitoring system for tracking both temperature and pressure at the interface between the skin and the TCGs. Detailed studies of the materials and engineering aspects of these devices, together with clinical pilot trials on a range of patients with different pathologies, establish the technical foundations and measurement capabilities.

Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.