Healthcare is one of the industries being reshaped by sensor technology.
We have reported many innovations in this field, and the latest comes from engineers at the University of California, Berkeley. The flexible sensor gauges blood-oxygen levels, crucially over ‘large areas of skin, tissue and organs’, allowing doctors to stay informed in real time about how wounds are healing.
“All medical applications that use oxygen monitoring could benefit from a wearable sensor,” explained Ana Claudia Arias, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley. “Patients with diabetes, respiration diseases and even sleep apnea could use a sensor that could be worn anywhere to monitor blood-oxygen levels 24/7.”
In tests, the sensor was placed on the forehead of a volunteer who took in incrementally smaller amounts of oxygen, and it achieved the same level of results as a standard fingertip oximeter.
