From theengineer.co.uk
Diagnosing and treating inflammatory skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis could be transformed with vibroacoustic sensor developed at Heriot-Watt University.
The vibroacoustic sensor, which measures material changes in each layer of skin using small vibrations on the surface, has received £275,000 from Scottish Enterprise and just over £200,000 from the Medical Research Council's Gap Fund to advance clinical testing. This research will support the development of a spin-out company based on the TissueMetrics project at Heriot-Watt.
Eczema affects up to 20 per cent of children and 10 per cent of adults in the UK, costing the NHS approximately £179m annually in GP visits. Patients who suffer from this also end up spending on average over £500 per year on creams, soaps and moisturisers.
Existing eczema treatment pathways typically involve repeated visits to pharmacies and GPs, while the most severe cases are referred to hospital dermatology clinics. However, UK waiting times can stretch to 18 months, with some patients waiting years before finding effective treatments.
The research behind TissueMetrics’ sensor is being led by Professor Michael Crichton from Heriot-Watt’s Global Research Institute in Health and Care Technologies.
"Our technology represents a fundamental shift in how we approach eczema management, he said in a statement. “Rather than relying solely on visual assessments, which haven't evolved in decades and can be particularly unreliable for patients with darker skin tones, our sensor provides objective measurements of what's happening beneath the skin's surface.”
Research associate Dr Connor Bain added that by measuring the elasticity and viscoelasticity of each skin layer, it is possible to detect changes in tissue stiffness and fluid content that indicate inflammation and disease progression.
“This allows healthcare professionals to make data-driven decisions about treatment effectiveness much earlier in the patient journey, potentially reducing the years of suffering many patients endure while trying to find the right treatment.”
The funding will help accelerate the progress of TissueMetrics, which aims to spin out in 2026 from Heriot-Watt University and supports the UK government's plans to move more health treatments into community settings to relieve pressure on hospitals and GPs.
Dr Sara Medina-Lombardero, a research associate at Heriot-Watt University who is leading the patient and user clinical development of the technology, said: “The planned clinical evaluation will allow us to confidently correlate our objective measurements to those of specialist dermatologist assessments. Success will set us on a path where the sensor could enable treatment tracking and diagnoses to be made in local pharmacies and community healthcare facilities.”
The research team will now begin testing the sensor on patients with moderate eczema who are undergoing third or fourth-line treatments. They will also gather crucial feedback from patients and clinicians on its usability.
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/sensor-promises-to-transform-eczema-and-psoriasis-care
No comments:
Post a Comment