Emily Blumenthal¹, Prof. Steven Jeffery²

¹RN, BSN (MolecuLight Inc., University College London, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham—em3blue@gmail.com)
 ²Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham

Bacterial infections account for 75% mortality in burn patients. When infections are not detected or treated appropriately, skin grafts may fail, which leads to delayed burn healing and longer lengths of stay. Microbiologic swabbing is the most common method for bacteria detection and identification. Swabs guide clinicians as to which antibiotic treatment is most appropriate, given the possibility of incorrectly treating a strain that is antibiotic-resistant. Yet, the microbiology results take 2-5 days to process, and by that point, the bacterial bioburden will have evolved. Swabbing usually occurs in the center of the wound, which may not account for bacteria presence in the periphery. Therefore, inspecting the wound with the naked eye is subjective and wound swabbing is not ideal.

MolecuLight i:X Imaging Device is a portable, non-invasive, real-time camera used to visualize and quantify bacterial load. It uses violet light to capture the fluorescence of endogenous structures in the connective tissue matrix (e.g. collagen) as well as harmful bacteria. The MolecuLight i:X captures pictures of the wounds and illuminates detrimental levels of bacteria. It provides valuable information about the burn’s biology, which will be able to guide clinicians in their management of infected burns. Thus, using MolecuLight i:X on burns will demonstrate the following: the ability of the device to guide clinicians in their management of the burn (i.e. detect, identify and specify swabbing locations) and the overall improved healing of burns compared to the current standard of care.