Photos and thermal scans to spot wound infections after cesarean births
Official title: Image-based algorithms for remote cesarean surgical site infection diagnoses in diverse populations
Funded at Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill · NIH-11394211 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will use smartphone photos and thermal images to help community health workers find wound infections after cesarean delivery in women in Rwanda, Ghana, and Mexico.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chapel Hill, United States) |
| Project start | August 15, 2024 |
| Project end | May 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $443,361 |
| NIH project number | 7R01HD112403-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11394211 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Women who have recently had a cesarean delivery in the participating sites (Rwanda, Ghana, or Mexico) and can be reached for a follow-up visit around postoperative day 10 are ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People without access to a phone or unable to be contacted for the scheduled follow-up, or whose complications occur outside the follow-up window, may not benefit from this approach.
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will follow about 6,000 women (2,000 at each site) after a cesarean birth and check wounds around 10 days after surgery. Community health workers will collect visible photos and thermal images of the incision and record the clinical diagnosis. The team will see how well two existing image-based tools work across countries and different skin tones and will update the algorithms if needed. The goal is to make it easier for local health workers to identify infections without requiring travel to a clinic.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help detect wound infections earlier, speed treatment, and reduce travel and costs for new mothers.
How similar studies have gone: Earlier versions of the visible-image algorithm showed about 83% sensitivity and 75% specificity and the thermal-image algorithm showed about 95% sensitivity and 84% specificity, but they need validation in diverse countries and skin tones.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany — Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- Study coordinator: Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.