New Keck Medicine of USC research suggests there may be a more effective method to detect bacteria during wound debridement — a process crucial to minimizing the risk of infection, and later amputation, in chronic wound patients.

Autofluorescence imaging, where a handheld device “lights up” bacteria previously invisible to the human eye, uses violet light to illuminate molecules in the cell walls of any bacteria. Different types of bacteria turn different colors, allowing physicians to immediately determine how much and which types of bacteria are in the wound.

The findings were published in Advances in Wound Care.

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