New Tool Targets Diabetic Foot Ulcers

A new tool for early intervention for diabetes-related foot ulcers is on the horizon.

Advancing Diabetes Foot Care

Through our partnership with the Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI), Diabetes Victoria is supporting research that can help prevent serious diabetes-related foot complications.

THERMUL: AI-Powered Early Detection

One exciting project has been the creation of THERMUL, a smartphone-based tool that combines thermal imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify foot ulcers that may be slow to heal.

This new technology analyses patterns within thermal images of foot wounds to access if an ulcer is healing as expected or if it is at risk of delayed healing. This allows clinicians to intervene earlier and prevent further complications.

Clinical Testing and Community Impact

Developed by the Biosignals team at RMIT under the leadership of Prof Dinesh Kumar, researchers from the University of Melbourne, RMIT University and Bolton Clarke have tested Thermul, this new portable, real-time and inexpensive technology, with 110 people living with diabetes-related foot ulcers at Austin Health and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.

Using a small thermal camera, researchers captured images of participants' foot ulcers when they first presented for care, and the AI model of Thermul predicted if the wound will heal within the expected 12 weeks.

Endocrinologist Professor Elif Ekinci, Head of the University of Melbourne’s Department of Medicine and Director of ACADI, said:

"Using this data, we trained an AI algorithm to recognise heat patterns within the initial thermal images that were associated with ulcers that went on to heal, compared with those that did not."

This research is an important step towards developing a tool that could one day help clinicians identify wounds at risk of delayed healing earlier, enabling people to receive timely care and help prevent serious complications.

For people living in regional, rural and remote communities, where access to specialist foot care can be more difficult, technologies like this could be particularly valuable.