Three key takeaways
- FAMU professor Suvranu De is leading a five-year, $1.3 million U.S. Army research project using ultrasound and artificial intelligence to improve burn diagnosis and treatment.
- The technology could help battlefield medics determine burn severity more quickly, with deep-learning analysis potentially identifying burn thickness with more than 95 percent accuracy.
- The research aims to predict how burns will heal, helping doctors determine whether a patient may need medication or surgery.
A FAMU professor is leading a $1.3 million U.S. Army research project that could give doctors and battlefield medics a faster way to determine the severity of burn wounds.
Suvranu De, a FAMU professor and dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, is leading the five-year cooperative research agreement. His team will combine ultrasound imaging and artificial intelligence to assess burn wounds and track how they heal.
The research addresses a critical problem in burn care: Doctors often cannot accurately determine the depth of a burn soon after an injury. Traditional diagnostic techniques may not provide reliable measurements until about three weeks later.
For second-degree burns, that delay can complicate treatment decisions. Superficial burns typically heal with noninvasive treatments such as ointments, while deeper burns may require surgery.
De's team will use B-mode ultrasound to collect information about the wounds and deep-learning technology to analyze it. The researchers believe the approach could determine burn thickness with more than 95 percent accuracy, De said.
“This gives non-expert field medics a massively helpful tool,” he said. “In the battlefield, they need to rapidly decide on a treatment paradigm. Do they apply medication, or do they recommend surgery preemptively? That’s a big decision.”
The research builds on an earlier Army agreement in which De led a team studying burn thickness. This time, the researchers will focus on what happens after the initial injury.
“That is my goal: Can I not only detect wound depth, but also predict how and when it is going to heal?” De said.
Visual examinations provide limited information about tissue beneath the surface. Laser Doppler imaging can provide accurate readings, but the equipment is costly and not widely available.
Ultrasound, by contrast, is common in hospitals and already used for procedures including pregnancy monitoring and echocardiograms. Portable ultrasound devices also are available for use at military forward operating bases.
The project will also establish standards for high-fidelity simulators used in burn-wound management. Those standards could help the military incorporate future technologies developed by private companies into ready-to-use applications.
The ultimate goal is to give clinicians better information sooner, whether they are treating a patient in a hospital or making a critical decision on the battlefield.