Assess healing of burn wounds through non-invasive method

Now, scientists have developed a non-invasive technique that involves mere flash of a laser light to assess the healing of burn wounds.

What is unique about it?

The method exploits a particular property of certain tissue proteins – the ability to re-emit light upon absorption. Such proteins, known as tissue fluorophores, have chemical compounds that can re-emit light. Collagen is one such protein that is vital in wound healing. So when a laser light is flashed on tissues during an examination, the amount of re-emitted light from the healing tissue directly corresponds to collagen concentration, which in turn, indicates the status of the recovery process.

Researchers at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Karnataka used commercially available 325 nm laser light to inspect healing by exploring tissue fluorophores, and a detector to collect re-emitted light. The re-emitted spectra were recorded using a fibre optic probe kept very close - about three mm – to the wound site. The spectra was then analysed in a spectrograph connected to a computer. 

The collagen levels measured by this technique, known as autofluorescence, were validated by biochemical tests of patient tissues. The comparison showed that autofluorescence was consistent and suitable for assessment of burn wound healing. This study also shown tissue collagen can be used as an optical biomarker for assessing burn wound healing, researchers explained. Tissue samples were collected from burn patients admitted to the Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Karnataka.

Earlier, the technique was used to assess lab-induced wounds in animals. Now, it has been tested in tissue samples from human burn patients suffering from different degree of burn wounds. The tissue formed after the treatment was excised before grafting and utilized for autofluorescence measurement.

What did the experts say?

“Our technique is user-friendly and solely dependent on excitation and emission of tissue fluorophores without the addition of any external dye molecule. This helps maintain tissue architecture during the assessment of healing,” Dr Vijendra Prabhu of Department of Biotechnology at the Manipal Institute of Technology, a member of the research team, told India Science Wire .

For clinical management of wounds, periodic evaluation of injured tissue is necessary to know progress of healing. Sometimes wound assessment is done by trained clinicians but it is a subjective method. The other method is to conduct histopathology and biochemical analysis to measure amount of collagen deposited. Repetitive invasive tests can result in fresh wounds and possibility of infection and scarring.

Through autofluorescence technique, collagen information of the tissue can be gathered just 10 to 15 seconds. “It can provide complementary data conducive to making clinical decisions. After successful testing on clinical samples, we are ready for mass testing on burn wound patients. This system can also be utilized to test collagen disorders in patients,” Dr Prabhu said.

(Indian Science Wire)

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