EU-funded ICT research helps burn victims get early treatment

More than 4,000 people die in the European Union each year because of accidents caused by fire and many thousands more are hospitalised to receive treatment for burns. But thanks to EU-funded research, medical experts will be able to act quicker and identify harmful bacteria or fungus which may be lurking in the wounds of burn victims and causing an infection. This will speed up the diagnostic and healing process by days.

Until now, doctors have had to rely on microbiological tests that took several days to identify which bacteria were causing the infection. Researchers from Germany, Italy, Lithuania and the UK have developed a small electronic device which can pinpoint the type of bacteria in just a few minutes, by identifying the minute amounts of gas the bacteria are producing. The quicker infections can be diagnosed, the faster patients can be treated, which can in turn lower the cost of lengthy hospital stays.

The EU has invested €1.67 million of information and communication technologies research funding into the Woundmonitor, developing a successful first prototype device.

Most of the burns in the EU occur at home or at work and are more predominant among vulnerable groups like the elderly or young children. Early diagnosis and treatment of infection in burn patients is critical. However, despite advances in modern medicine, it can take up to three days for microbiological tests to identify the bacteria present in the wound. Only after this identification can doctors select the appropriate treatment.

Traditionally, medical students were taught to recognise bacterial infections by their characteristic odour. Clinicians and researchers from Germany, Italy, Lithuania and the UK in the Woundmonitor project used the same approach, but were helped by the latest information and communication technologies.

The researchers developed an instrument that can identify types of bacteria from the small amount of volatile gases that they emit, recognisable by odour. They then identified the volatile chemicals spread by the bacteria when they multiply.

With this information, the team designed an instrument – about the size of an A4 file – containing eight gas sensors. The pattern of the responses from the sensors represents the characteristics of the chemicals present, by which the bacteria are identified.

This complex but very compact instrument has been tested in a hospital in Manchester and at a Kaunas regional hospital in Lithuania. Results have been very satisfactory and the researchers have positively assessed the instrument’s risk level. Several commercial companies have shown interest in the Woundmonitor instrument and negotiations are underway to qualify the instrument for commercial use.

The EU funded the project with €1.67 million from its Sixth Framework Programme for research.

www.woundmonitor.manchester.ac.uk/index.html