Intelligent Prophylaxis of Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Abstract

A high skin surface pressure at the feet over a longer period of time can cause foot ulcers. It can occur due to insufficient relief of tissue and a lack of alarm signals from the nervous system, especially for patients with Diabetic Polyneuropathia. A healthy person would move and relieve the foot after a while. A medical wearable can warn a patient without natural alarm signals. However, the required wound indicators are not known, yet. This work presents a medical wearable that is able to measure pressure load at wound risk areas as well as the skin temperature and the blood oxygen saturation nearby. Combined with the data analysis by artificial intelligence we want to identify the relevant wound predictors. Therefore, we conduct a clinical study with patients at risk for diabetic foot ulcers