Israeli Startup Offers Solution for Monitoring Chronic Wounds

Israeli med-tech startup Healthy.io recently announced the launch of its new digital technology for monitoring chronic wounds in the USA. It will significantly simplify and accelerate the documentation of wounds and the monitoring of the healing process. This, in turn, will help reduce hospitalization times and improve treatment outcomes.

Healthy.io gained fame for developing a unique urine analysis called Dip UTI, which uses a smartphone camera and a multicolored test strip to help diagnose chronic kidney failure, urinary tract infections, and other pathological conditions at home. The test has already received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Another product from the Israeli company, another urine analysis, allows people with diabetes and high blood pressure to check for kidney diseases at home.

As assured by Healthy.io's General Manager Paula Leclair, the new solution enabling digital monitoring of chronic wounds will provide healthcare workers with essential tools necessary for tracking their condition and treatment, which is particularly important considering that healing such wounds can take several months or even years.

In America alone, over six million people suffer from chronic wounds, costing the government 25 billion dollars a year. These wounds include ulcers caused by diabetic foot syndrome, arterial ulcers due to circulatory disorders, pressure sores resulting from prolonged immobility that damage the skin, trophic ulcers arising from varicose veins, etc. There are also chronic wounds caused by obesity.

"This is a global, silent epidemic affecting tens of millions of people worldwide," says Leclair, adding that such wounds typically occur in one of the most vulnerable population categories – the elderly, who often already have a host of chronic diseases. Hard-to-heal wounds can limit a person's mobility, negatively affect their interactions with others, and impact their mental health. They are also a problem for healthcare systems, given the lack of effective tools for accurately assessing the condition of chronic wounds.

The company notes that, unlike home urine tests sold directly to patients, the new system is designed for use by nurses in clinical settings. It is expected to reduce the burden on medical staff and improve the accuracy of assessing the size of chronic wounds. "The entire burden falls on the shoulders of nurses," continues Leclair, "and they are true heroes in this regard, but the tools they use today are hopelessly outdated."

She points out that the existing method of measuring and documenting chronic wounds is quite controversial and rudimentary, as it uses basic tools such as paper tape measures. "Our task is to move this process from a ruler to a smartphone," the company states, "and also to reduce its duration from ten minutes to a few seconds."

"Without an accurate method of documentation, it is difficult for doctors to exchange information and track results over an extended period, which can increase healing time and lead to stress for patients," notes Paula Leclair.

According to her, the new Healthy.io solution is designed to seamlessly integrate into the workflow and busy schedule of wound care specialists, making their documentation as easy as taking a selfie.

Doctors will use a special smartphone application and two calibration stickers placed around the wound to track its size and scan them for quick area measurement. The scanned images will be automatically calibrated for size, depth, lighting, and volumes to ensure data standardization across the wound area. The technology also creates a three-dimensional image of the wound, allowing for comprehensive data collection.

Healthcare workers can enter information into the app about the type of wound, pain level, odor, and other characteristics. They also have the option to specify details of planned treatment, reference results from previous therapies, standardize past photographs, and create reports summarizing the progress of each wound over time. Data is automatically uploaded to the patient's medical record so that all doctors involved in their care can reference it.

The Israeli technology can not only help doctors and nurses perform their work more objectively and consistently, but, according to Leclair, it will facilitate data-driven decision-making and reduce the incidence of new complications, setting a new standard in the treatment of chronic wounds.

Healthy.io was founded in 2013 by Yonatan Adiri, who serves as CEO, and has raised over 90 million dollars in funding to date.