A Cost -Effective Photonics-based Device for Early Prediction, Monitoring and Management of Diabetic Foot Ulcers

PHOOTONICS aims at developing innovative, reliable, and cost-effective (in terms of almost zero operational cost and high return of investment) photonic-driven devices for Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) monitoring and management which can be applied for wide use. The project supports two versions:

• the PHOOTONICS In-Home, used for DFU monitoring by patients and
• the PHOOTONICS PRO operated by physicians at their premises.

The proposed devices combine passive infrared photodetectors with active illuminators. Specifically, within the project will be delivered:

1. a passive HSI photo-detector, sensitive at NIR spectrum of 700nm-1000nm with an active tuneable diode illuminator, operating at NIR spectrum, for optimising reliability (in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy) in detecting peripheral oxygen and tissue saturation- SpO2/StO2 and oxyhaemoglobin/ deoxyhaemoglobin, at a spatial resolution of approximately 50pixels/cm,
2. a passive Mid-IR photodetector, sensitive at spectrum 5.7μm-9.3μm with a Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) optimized to capture additional tissue attributes such as elastin, collagen, lipid, amino amino-acids and carbohydrates necessary information for DFU early prediction and management at a resolution scale approximately of 10pixels/cm. and
3. a thermal-IR sensing component capable of detecting hyperthermia/hypothermia distributions in ROIs with different levels of resolution for the PRO and In-Home version (full HD and 10 pixels/cm respectively).