E-Bandages Lightly Zap—and Heal—Wounds

Not only can electricity drive electronics, it can help people heal. The first electronic bandage the body can absorb can apply electric signals to speed the healing of wounds by 30 percent, a new study finds. In the body, electricity helps the heart beat, causes the muscles to twitch, and allows the body to communicate with the brain. Now scientists are increasingly using electricity to promote healing with so-called electroceuticals.
In the new study, researchers focused on chronic wounds, especially those associated with diabetes. The disease leads to more than US $327 billion in health-care costs annually in the United States alone, a toll projected to grow at a rate of $1 billion per year. Diabetic foot ulcers are a major complication that afflicts 15 to 25 percent of the roughly 30 million people living with diabetes in the United States. These and other chronic wounds linked to diabetes are the leading cause worldwide of lower-limb amputations other than those caused by accidents or injuries.