United States: An infection after an operation may be minor or severe lasts longer and is potentially fatal, research has established that between 0.5 to 5 percent of the patients operated on develop an infection.
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Furthermore, including in chronic cases, most patients require 8-10 years of care annually and chronic wounds are present in about 6.5 million patients in the United States.
These bacteria do not easily come into view and this leads to their being overlooked by the physician when washing the affected part.
About the new methodology
Now there is a new medical technology that employs fluorescent light to identify missed bacteria and it has been proven effective by a new study spearheaded by the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USC).
A handheld device using autofluorescence (AF) imaging was tested for viability in twenty-six medical studies and also highlighted bacteria in nine out of ten wounds with each type fluorescing in another color according to a press release from USC.
These were recently reported in the peer-reviewed medical journal Advances in Wound Care.
Detection in real-time
As Field observed, in traditional practice, surgeons swab samples of tissue from the wound for analysis in a laboratory to find out which kind of bacteria are present.
It could take days to get the results, during this time; the patient might contract the disease.
Dr. Raj Dasgupta who is the pulmonary and critical care specialist at Huntington Health in Los Angeles stated that these Bacteria could cause wounds to become infected when they enter and colonize the cut or wound,” Fox News reported.
“If a person does not receive treatment for a wound infection, the infection can spread to other parts of the body, which may lead to serious complications,” he added.
The sort of lighting used enables clinicians to monitor the bacteria growth in real time which greatly facilitates the management of wounds and promotion of good wound care according to the study authors.
What more are the experts stating?
According to the lead study author Dr. David G. Armstrong, professor of neurological surgery and director of the USC Limb Preservation Program, “Fluorescence imaging, particularly with devices like MolecuLight, offers a significant advancement in the ability to detect bacterial loads in chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers,” as Fox News reported.
This may also help avoid the incidences where antibiotics are required since the bacteria can be displaced even before a particular infection gets to occur.
“The study also explores the potential of wearable fluorescence imaging devices, which could further revolutionize surgical debridement by providing continuous visualization during the procedure,” Armstrong said.