title: Bioimpedance measurement based evaluation of wound healing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our group has developed a bipolar bioimpedance measurement-based method for determining the state of wound healing. The objective of this study was to assess the capability of the method.
  
  
  METHODS
  To assess the performance of the method, we arranged a follow-up study of four acute wounds. The wounds were measured using the method and photographed throughout the healing process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Initially the bioimpedance of the wounds was significantly lower than the impedance of the undamaged skin, used as a baseline. Gradually, as healing progressed, the wound impedance increased and finally reached the impedance of the undamaged skin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clinical appearance of the wounds examined in this study corresponded well with the parameters derived from the bioimpedance data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hard-to-heal wounds are a significant and growing socioeconomic burden, especially in the developed countries, due to aging populations and to the increasing prevalence of various lifestyle related diseases. The assessment and the monitoring of chronic wounds are mainly based on visual inspection by medical professionals. The dressings covering the wound must be removed before assessment; this may disturb the wound healing process and significantly increases the work effort of the medical staff. There is a need for an objective and quantitative method for determining the status of a wound without removing the wound dressings. This study provided evidence of the capability of the bioimpedance based method for assessing the wound status. In the future measurements with the method should be extended to concern hard-to-heal wounds.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland. BioMediTech Institute, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Atte
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kekonen
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bergelin
authors.forename: Jan-Erik
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Annikki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaalasti
authors.forename: Heimo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ylänen
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Viik
mesh_terms: D058266:Dielectric Spectroscopy / Q000295:instrumentation; D004566:Electrodes; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D014945:Wound Healing