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peripheral neuropathy
INTRODUCTION
About 65% of the people with diabetes mellitus are suffering from peripheral neuropathy which leaves them with partial or no feeling in their limbs. They often bump or scrape these limbs unknowingly, which leads to infection and possible amputation. Our design project focuses on the area of biomedical engineering which will detect trauma to a portion of the body where feeling has been lost. The product will detect the intense conditions in this area and give a suitable alert to the patient for quick medication. We feel that our knowledge and ability has the potential to improve people’s lives, which is an overwhelming reason why we are excited to pursue this project.
The design here focuses on neuropathy of the arm and foot. This device will be mounted on a special sock so that it can be worn when the protection of a shoe is not available or wanted. Pressure sensors will be located on each finger and toe, which are the most vulnerable to trauma in patients with neuropathy. Special provisions for sensing temperature are provided on sides of the arm or foot. Alerting the user is with the help of audio and visual indications.
Pressure sensors are located on three different toes and two temperature sensors are placed at sides of foot. When a trauma occurs, sensors pick up this information and alert is produced. Two distinct sounds for temperature and pressure inputs are present. Once sound is heard, the patient can reset the product, which initializes it again.LED display provides information about the potential damage at a quick glance. A red LED for high temperature, a green LED for low temperature and a blue LED for pressure are provided. Correspondingly, LCD display provides the levels of temperature and pressure inputs. This information will be more helpful for the doctor to analyze the patient.
OBJECTIVE
Our project aims at developing a hardware product for the peripheral neuropathic patients. These patients have lost the ability of sensation and are prone to more traumas. The project will benefit in alerting the patients when a trauma occurs so that they can take the appropriate medication. Both pressure and temperature sensing is possible using sensors. These transducers convert these signals into appropriate voltages which are provided as input to the processor for producing appropriate alerts.
The design mainly focuses on peripheral neuropathy of foot and hand. This product is being designed for foot. When a traumatic event such as stubbing a toe, dropping something on the foot, extreme cold resulting in frostbite, or intense heat leading to burns are detected by the sensors, a buzzer will be sounded. Distinct sounds for pressure and temperature sensing is provided. Three LEDS and a LCD display are given at the visual output section. A blue LED detects pressure input, a green and red LED senses cold and heat respectively. LCD display will also show the normal, medium and high levels of pressure and temperature.
