Using AI Within Digital Wound Monitoring of Surgical Wounds to Prioritise Non-healing Wounds for Urgent Review

Background and study aims Over 10 million surgical operations are performed in England annually with approximately 2.1 million having problems with wound healing, of which 500,000 lead to infection. Most of these wound problems happen after patients have been discharged from the hospital. They need to be identified and treated early to prevent the problem from worsening.

Digital remote surgical wound monitoring is beginning to be used to monitor patients' surgical wounds at home after discharge from the hospital. This offers regular assessment when wound problems are most likely to develop. Early evaluations of digital wound monitoring suggest it improves clinical outcomes and has high patient satisfaction; however, it creates a new additional workload for clinicians.

Who can participate? Patients ≥18 years old having first/redo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries with or without adjunct cardiac procedures such as valve replacement, or chest reopening during same admission as index surgery, and either no infection, or an existing non-infected wound complication, or any other infection except surgical site, at any of two recruitment sites (St Bartholomew's Hospital, London and Freeman Hospital, Newcastle). Patients without a smartphone/with physical disability/with visual impairment will be eligible if they are willing to use a smartphone or internet provided by the study, or their next of kin or carer is able-bodied or has a smartphone.

What does the study involve? The study will assess a new component for a digital wound monitoring platform, which has been developed and has recently received HRA approval to be validated for predictivity, sensitivity and specificity, and inter-rater reliability. The new component uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify 'red flags' on the images patients submit to the wound monitoring platform. Images that have a possible red flag are then identified for urgent priority review. This helps clinicians manage this new workload by allowing the most urgent cases to be reviewed first.

A total of 120 patients in two hospitals will be invited to take part in the study. All participants (patients who take part) will receive normal wound care follow-up after surgery, and half of the participants will also receive the digital wound monitoring system with the AI to identify wounds which need urgent assessment.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating? Participants allocated to the digital wound monitoring with AI may benefit from regular and ongoing wound assessment. Participants allocated to standard wound care may not receive additional direct benefits. This study will help improve the approach to Wound care.

There are no foreseeable disadvantages involved with taking part since all participants will receive their usual standard wound care follow-up. Being involved will require participants to give some of their own time.

Where is the study run from? This study is a collaboration of researchers and surgeons across the country. It is co-ordinated by Derby Clinical Trials Support Unit, on behalf of the Sponsor, Guys and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (UK)

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for? December 2023 to December 2025

Who is funding the study? National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) (UK)

Inclusion criteria

• Patients having first/redo CABG surgeries with or without adjunct cardiac procedures such as valve replacement, or chest reopening during same admission as index surgery, and either no infection, or an existing non-infected wound complication, or any other infection except surgical site.
• Patients without a smartphone/with physical disability/with visual impairment will be eligible if they are willing to use a smartphone or internet provided by the study, or their next of kin or carer is able-bodied or has a smartphone.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients having CABG requiring ventricular assist device (VAD) or
• extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), or
• ventilated or unconscious patients, or
• pre-existing surgical site infection.