Monitoring surgical wounds post-operatively is necessary to prevent infection, dehiscence and other complications. However, the monitoring of deep surgical sites is typically limited to indirect observations or to costly radiological investigations that often fail to detect complications before they become severe. Bioelectronic sensors could provide accurate and continuous monitoring from within the body, but the form factors of existing devices are not amenable to integration with sensitive wound tissues and to wireless data transmission. Here we show that multifilament surgical sutures functionalized with a conductive polymer and incorporating pledgets with capacitive sensors operated via radiofrequency identification can be used to monitor physicochemical states of deep surgical sites. We show in live pigs that the sutures can monitor wound integrity, gastric leakage and tissue micromotions, and in rodents that the healing outcomes are equivalent to those of medical-grade sutures. Battery-free wirelessly operated bioelectronic sutures may facilitate post-surgical monitoring in a wide range of interventions.

术后监测手术伤口对于防止感染、裂开和其他并发症是必要的。然而，对深部手术部位的监测通常仅限于间接观察或昂贵的放射学调查，这些调查往往无法在并发症变得严重之前检测到。生物电子传感器可以从体内提供准确和连续的监测，但现有设备的形状因素不适合与敏感的伤口组织集成和无线数据传输。在这里，我们展示了用导电聚合物功能化的多丝手术缝合线，并将纱布与通过射频识别操作的电容式传感器结合在一起，可用于监测深部手术部位的物理化学状态。我们在活猪身上证明缝合线可以监测伤口完整性、胃渗漏和组织微动，在啮齿动物身上证明愈合结果与医用级缝合线相当。无电池无线操作的生物电子缝合线可以促进广泛干预中的术后监测。