Smart sutures

Smart sutures, otherwise referred to as electronic sutures, refers to the incorporation of a specialized coating or the addition of flexible electronics, including miniature sensors or microfluidic technology into sutures which can be used to retrieve real-time data of the wound or targeted tissue. This has become an achievable possibility due to the advancements of microelectronics, in particular the creation of a new class of electronics which includes flexibility, degradability, and biocompatibility electronics. The information gathered from the smart sutures provides real time data that will aid in the wound healing process alongside the use of the data monitoring internal tissues or organs, if used through surgery procedures. The World Health Organization has found that Surgical Site Infections where an infection occurring on the any site of the anatomy which occurs within 30 days of the procedure, are the most surveyed and frequent type of hospital acquired infections in low and middle income countries and the second most frequent type within Europe and USA. Application of smart sutures varies due to the type of suture used alongside the adaptive quality of the 2D suture threads allows the smart suture to be transformed into a 3D structure through already established textile techniques, further increasing the possibilities of application to become almost endless1. Smart sutures have been in development since approximately 2012; however, there are no current smart sutures in use within practice to date. There is documentative evidence that in vivo testing has taken place within some types of smart suturing producing positive outcomes from these trials, indicating that smart sutures may become a reality in the clinical environment.