Smart Stitches Coming to A Hospital Near You

We already have smartphones, smart TVs and smart cars, so why not leverage technology to include smart stitches? Using tiny sensors and electronics layered into fibers like cotton or various synthetics, super-small-scale electronics called “nano-scale sensors” and “microfluidics” are inserted into the sutures to monitor things like pressure, stress, strain and body temperature — as well as pH and glucose levels. This data from the sutures can transmit wirelessly in real time to a cellphone or computer, giving doctors a better idea of how a patient is healing and whether an infection is starting. Although they’ve only been tested in vitro, on rats’ tissue, so further studies are needed, but researchers are confident with the results they’ve seen so far.