Abstract

Body Sensor Networks: Current State of the Art and Future Directions

Guang-Zhong Yang, Professor/Director, Imperial College London

Recent advances in surgery have made a significant impact on the management of major acute diseases, prolonging life and continuously pushing the boundaries of survival. Despite increasing sophistication of surgical intervention, complications remain common and poorly understood, contributing significantly to mortality and morbidity. Surgical site infections, catheter related sepsis, wound dehiscence and gastrointestinal anastomotic leakage are recognized complications following surgical interventions or invasive monitoring of critically ill surgical patients. Current methods for detecting these complications rely on episodic clinical examination with 'snap shot' laboratory testing. This talk focusses on the development of new sensing technologies that can be seamlessly integrated with existing surgical appliances to provide continuous sensing and early detection of these adverse events, thus minimizing post-operative infection, complication, and readmission.