Northwestern researchers have come up with a novel approach to treat foot ulcers. Their development, a regenerative bandage, heals diabetic wounds four times faster than standard bandages without additional side effects.
Experienced by 15% of people with diabetes, foot ulcers can lead to serious health complications. What seems like a harmless sore could result in, for 24% of those affected, a lower-leg amputation and in certain cases, even death.
These sores are particularly a problem for those affected by diabetes. The combination of high glucose, which thickens capillary walls and slows blood circulation, and potential nerve damage, which causes numbness in the feet, creates conditions for a life-threatening sore. Furthermore, if the sores do not necessarily fast enough, infections can develop.
Currently, some treatments for the wounds exist, but cost and significant side effects prove to be problems for patients. One gel treatment, for instance, includes a growth factor which could increase cancer risk if it is overused.
Guillermo Ameer, a professor of biomedical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and surgery in the Feinberg School of Medicine and his team sought to create an alternative to this gel and other costly treatments: a regenerative bandage to heal sores.
The bandage itself is a thermos-responsive material with intrinsic antioxidant properties that serve to counter inflammation. The material uses a protein that is part of the body’s natural immune response towards an injury site and slowly releases it to bring progenitor cells and stem cells to the wound.
Its thermo-responsive properties are useful as well, causing the material to change from a liquid when it is applied to the wound to a solid gel as it is exposed to body temperature. Such a property allows for the gel to conform to the shape of the wound and protect it throughout the time patients change the injury’s dressing.
Collaborating with Northwestern Engineering’s Hao F. Zhang, Ameer imaged diabetic wounds and found they were healthier after the use of the regenerative bandage, underscoring the promise of such an innovation as a form of future treatment.
For more information, please visit: www.northwestern.edu