Management of Chronic Wounds

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela L. Gibson ◽  
Dana Henkel

Chronic wounds are challenging for both the practitioner and the patient. These wounds often cause pain and lead to unemployment, social activity disruption, and quality of life issues for the patient. As the world population advances in age and increases in body mass index, there has been an increase in diabetes and venous insufficiency, ultimately resulting in a rise in the number of patients with chronic wounds. This review covers disease definition, wound-healing necessities, treatment options for management of chronic wounds, special wound care considerations, and investigational therapies. Figures show distribution of chronic wound etiologies, vacuum-assisted closure treatment of chronic wounds, chronic arterial ulcer of the medial foot, a step-wise application of a multilayer compression dressing, and four stages of pressure ulcers. Tables list known causes of tissue hypoxia, types of débridement, common dressings used in chronic wounds, and stages of a pressure ulcer.   This review contains 5 highly rendered figures, 4 tables, and 99 references

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela L. Gibson ◽  
Dana Henkel

Chronic wounds are challenging for both the practitioner and the patient. These wounds often cause pain and lead to unemployment, social activity disruption, and quality of life issues for the patient. As the world population advances in age and increases in body mass index, there has been an increase in diabetes and venous insufficiency, ultimately resulting in a rise in the number of patients with chronic wounds. This review covers disease definition, wound-healing necessities, treatment options for management of chronic wounds, special wound care considerations, and investigational therapies. Figures show distribution of chronic wound etiologies, vacuum-assisted closure treatment of chronic wounds, chronic arterial ulcer of the medial foot, a step-wise application of a multilayer compression dressing, and four stages of pressure ulcers. Tables list known causes of tissue hypoxia, types of débridement, common dressings used in chronic wounds, and stages of a pressure ulcer.   This review contains 5 highly rendered figures, 4 tables, and 99 references


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Stadler ◽  
Ramon Z. Shaban ◽  
Peter Tatham

AbstractBackgroundWhen disaster strikes, the number of patients requiring treatment can be overwhelming. In low-income countries, resources to assist the injured in a timely fashion may be limited. As a consequence, necrosis and wound infection in disaster patients is common and frequently leads to adverse health outcomes such as amputations, chronic wounds, and loss of life. In such compromised health care environments, low-tech and cheap wound care options are required that are in ready supply, easy to use, and have multiple therapeutic benefits. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is one such wound care option and may prove to be an invaluable tool in the treatment of wounds post-disaster.DiscussionThis report provides an overview of the wound burden experienced in various types of disaster, followed by a discussion of current treatment approaches, and the role MDT may play in the treatment of complex wounds in challenging health care conditions. Maggot debridement therapy removes necrotic and devitalized tissue, controls wound infection, and stimulates wound healing. These properties suggest that medicinal maggots could assist health care professionals in the debridement of disaster wounds, to control or prevent infection, and to prepare the wound bed for reconstructive surgery. Maggot debridement therapy-assisted wound care would be led by health care workers rather than physicians, which would allow the latter to focus on reconstructive and other surgical interventions. Moreover, MDT could provide a larger window for time-critical interventions, such as fasciotomies to treat compartment syndrome and amputations in case of life-threatening wound infection.RecommendationsThere are social, medical, and logistic hurdles to overcome before MDT can become widely available in disaster medical aid. Thus, research is needed to further demonstrate the utility of MDT in Disaster Medicine. There is also a need for reliable MDT logistics and supply chain networks. Integration with other disaster management activities will also be essential.ConclusionsIn the aftermath of disasters, MDT could play an important role facilitating timely and efficient medical treatment and improving patient outcomes. Existing social, medical, and logistic barriers will need to be overcome for MDT to be mainstreamed in Disaster Medicine.StadlerF,ShabanRZ,TathamP.Maggot debridement therapy in Disaster Medicine.Prehosp Disaster Med.2016;31(1):79–84.


Author(s):  
Natasha Ansari ◽  
Eric Johnson ◽  
Jennifer A. Sinnott ◽  
Sikandar Ansari

Background: Oncology provider discussions of treatment options, outcomes of treatment, and end of life planning are essential to care for patients with advanced malignancies. Studies have shown that despite this, many patients do not have adequate care planning, including end of life planning. It is thought that the accessibility of information outside of clinical encounters and individual factors and/or beliefs may influence the patient’s perception of disease. Aims: The objective of this study was to evaluate if patient understanding of treatment goals matched the provider and if there were areas of discrepancy. If a discrepancy was found, the survey inquired further into more specific aspects. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was performed at a cancer hospital outpatient clinic. 100 consecutive and consenting patients who had stage IV non-curable lung, gastrointestinal (GI), or other cancer were included in the study. Patients must have had at least 2 visits with their oncologist. Results: 40 patients reported their disease might be curable and 60 reported their disease was not curable. Patients who reported their disease was not curable were more likely to be 65 years or older (P-value: 0.055). They were more likely to report that their doctor discussed the possibility of their cancer getting worse (78.3% VS 55%; P-value 0.024), that their doctor discussed end of life plans (58.3% VS 30%; P- value: 0.01), and that they had appointed a health care decision-maker (86.7% VS 62.5%; P-value: 0.01). 65% of patients who thought their disease might be curable reported that their doctor said it might be curable, compared with only 6.7% of patients who thought their disease was not curable (p < 0.001). Or, equivalently, 35% of patients who thought their disease might be curable reported that their doctor’s opinion was that it was not curable, compared with 93% of patients who thought their disease was not curable (p < 0.001). Patients who had lung cancer were more likely to believe their cancer was not curable than patients with gastrointestinal or other cancer, though the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.165). Patients who said their disease might be curable selected as possible reasons that a miracle (50%) or alternative medicine (66.7%) would get rid of the cancer, or said their family wanted them to believe the cancer would go away (16.7%) or that another doctor said it would (4.2%). Patients who said their disease might be curable said they did so due to alternative medications, another doctor, or their family. Restricting to the 70 patients who reported their doctors telling them their disease was not curable, 20% of them still said that they personally felt their disease might be curable. Patients below 65 years of age were more likely to disagree with the doctor in this case (P-value: 0.047). Conclusion: This survey of patients diagnosed with stage IV cancer shows that a significant number of patients had misunderstandings of the treatment and curability of their disease. Findings suggest that a notable proportion kept these beliefs even after being told by treating physicians that their disease is not curable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vana Vukić ◽  
Ana Smajo ◽  
Mandica Vidović ◽  
Rudolf Vukojević ◽  
Miroslav Harjaček ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The last two decades brought new treatment options and high quality guidelines into the paediatric rheumatologic practice. Nevertheless, a number of patients still present a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge due to combination of vague symptoms and unresponsiveness to available treatment modalities. Case presentation We report a case of sixteen years old girl suffering from polyarticular type of juvenile idiopathic arthritis refractory to multiple treatment options. She first presented at the age of 4 with swelling and contractures of both knees. Her symptoms were initially unresponsive to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and progressed despite treatment with intraarticular and systemic glucocorticoids and methotrexate. Throughout the years, she received several biologics together with continuous administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs as well as intraarticular and systemic glucocorticoids in disease flares. However, none of this options  provided a permanent remission, so various other modalities, as well as other possible diagnoses were constantly being considered. Eventually she became dependent on a daily dose of systemic glucocorticoids. In 2018, the treatment with Janus kinase inhibitor tofacitinib was initiated, which led to gradual amelioration of musculoskeletal symptoms, improvement of inflammatory markers and overall well-being, as well as to the weaning of systemic glucocorticoids. As the swelling of the wrists subsided for the first time in many years, Madelung’s deformity was noticed, first clinically, and later radiographically as well. Genetic analysis revealed short-stature homeobox gene deficiency and confirmed the diagnosis of Leri Weill syndrome. Conclusions This case report emphasizes the need for reporting refractory, complicated cases from everyday clinical practice in order to build-up the overall knowledge and share experience which is complementary to available guidelines. Individual reports of difficult to treat cases, especially when additional diagnoses are involved, can be helpful for physicians treating patients with common rheumatological diseases such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis.


Dermatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Maximillian A. Weigelt ◽  
Yuval Hilerowicz ◽  
Jeffrey A. Leichter ◽  
Hadar Lev-Tov

Background: Clinical staging systems for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) have poor interrater reliability and may underestimate disease activity. Sonographic staging systems may overcome these challenges, but conventional ultrasound (US) machines are expensive and bulky. Portable (p)US may facilitate the integration of sonography into routine practice. Objectives: To assess the ability of a novel smartphone-linked pUS device to identify key sonographic lesions of HS. Methods: The charts of 16 patients with HS who were assessed with pUS at the outpatient Dermatology and Wound Care Clinics of a university hospital center were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical and sonographic images of the affected areas were examined. The main outcome measures were the number of patients with identifiable sonographic lesions and the number of patients with subclinical lesions detected by pUS. Results: All 3 key sonographic lesions of HS were identifiable with pUS. Sonographic lesions were identified in 10 patients (62.5%). Subclinical lesions were identified in 2 patients (12.5%); in both cases, this affected management decisions. Conclusions: We demonstrate the ability of pUS to identify the key sonographic lesions of HS. pUS is a simple and affordable way to integrate HSUS into clinical and research settings, with clear potential benefits to patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 540-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukie Mori ◽  
Gojiro Nakagami ◽  
Aya Kitamura ◽  
Takeo Minematsu ◽  
Mikio Kinoshita ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinchi Feng ◽  
Jinsong Hao

: Chronic wounds remain a significant public problem and the development of wound treatments has been a research focus for the past few decades. Despite advances in the products derived from endogenous substances involved in a wound healing process (e.g. growth factors, stem cells, and extracellular matrix), effective and safe wound therapeutics are still limited. There is an unmet need to develop new therapeutics. Various new pathways and targets have been identified and could become a molecular target in designing novel wound agents. Importantly, many existing drugs that target these newly identified pathways could be repositioned for wound therapy, which will facilitate fast translation of research findings to clinical applications. This review discusses the newly identified pathways/targets and their potential uses in the development of wound therapeutics. Some herbs and amphibian skins have been traditionally used for wound repairs and their active ingredients have been found to act in these new pathways. Hence, screening these natural products for novel wound therapeutics remains a viable approach. The outcomes of wound care using natural wound therapeutics could be improved if we can better understand their cellular and molecular mechanisms and fabricate them in appropriate formulations, such as using novel wound dressings and nano-engineered materials. Therefore, we also provide an update on the advances in the wound therapeutics from natural sources. Overall, this review offers new insights into novel wound therapeutics.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Hüsers ◽  
Mareike Przysucha ◽  
Moritz Esdar ◽  
Swen Malte JOHN ◽  
Ursula Hertha Hübner

BACKGROUND Chronic health conditions are on the rise and are putting high economic pressure on health systems as they require well-coordinated prevention and treatment. Among chronic conditions, chronic wounds such as cardiovascular leg ulcers have a high prevalence. Their treatment is highly interdisciplinary and regularly spans multiple care settings and organizations, thus placing particularly high demands on interoperable information exchange that can be achieved using international semantic standards such as SNOMED CT. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate the expressiveness of SNOMED CT in the domain of wound care, and thereby its clinical usefulness and the potential need for extensions. METHODS A clinically consented and profession independent wound care item set, the German National Consensus for the Documentation of Leg Wounds (NKDUC), was mapped onto the international reference terminology SNOMED CT. Prior to the mapping, the NKDUC was transformed into an information model that served to systematically identify the relevant items. The mapping process itself was carried out in accordance with the formalism of ISO/TR 12300. As a result, the reliability, equivalence, and coverage rate were determined. RESULTS The developed information model revealed 268 items to be mapped. Conducted by three health care professionals, the mapping resulted in “moderate” reliability (K=0.512). Regarding the two best equivalence categories, the coverage rate of SNOMED CT was 67.2% overall and 64.3% specifically for wounds. CONCLUSIONS The results yielded acceptable reliability values for the mapping procedure. The overall coverage rate shows that two-thirds of the items could be mapped symmetrically, which is a substantial portion of the source item set. Some wound care sections, such as general medical condition and wound assessment, were covered better than other sections (wound status, diagnostics, and therapy). These deficiencies can be mitigated either by post-coordination or the inclusion of new concepts in SNOMED CT. This study contributes to pushing interoperability in the domain of wound care and thereby responds to the high demand for information exchange in this field. Overall, this study adds another puzzle piece to the general knowledge about SNOMED CT in terms of its clinical usefulness and its need for further extensions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Matthews ◽  
Kaushik Hazratwala ◽  
Sergio Barroso-Rosa

Objectives: To review comminuted patella fracture in the elderly patients and examine the surgical options to avoid complications such as fixation failure and poor functional outcome. To provide an example of mesh augmentation in comminuted patella fracture in the elderly patients. Data Sources: A literature review was conducted by the authors independently using Ovid, Medline, Cochrane, PubMed, and Clinical Key in English. We aimed to review data on patients older than 65 with comminuted patella fracture. Search conducted between July and December 2015. Study Selection: Search terms included patella fracture, elderly, and fixation failure. Abstracts were included if they were a case report, cohort series, or randomized control trial. Further inclusion criteria were that they were available in full text and included patient age(s), operative details, follow-up, and outcome discussion. Data Extraction: Each study was assessed according to its level of evidence, number of patients, age of patients, fracture patterns described, complications of treatment, and results summarized. Data Synthesis: Paucity of data and heterogeneity of studies limited statistical analysis. Data are presented as a review table with the key points summarized. Conclusion: In patella fracture, age >65 years and comminuted fracture pattern are predictors of increased fixation failure and postoperative stiffness, warranting special consideration. There is a trend toward improved functional outcomes when augmented fixation using mesh or plates is used in this group. Further level 1 studies are required to compare and validate new treatment options and compared them to standard surgical technique of tension band wire construct.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-54
Author(s):  
Elita Wibisono ◽  
Harrina E. Rahardjo

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition that is experienced by around 455 million people (11% of the world population) and associated with significant impact in patients’ quality of life. The first line treatments of OAB are conservative treatment and anti-muscarinic medication. For the refractory OAB patients, the treatment options available are surgical therapy, electrical stimulation, and botulinum toxin injection. Among them, percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) is a minimally invasive option that aims to stimulate sacral nerve plexus, a group of nerve that is responsible for regulation of bladder function. After its approval by food and drug administration (FDA) in 2007, PTNS revealed considerable promise in OAB management. In this review, several non-comparative and comparative studies comparing PTNS with sham procedure, anti-muscarinic therapy, and multimodal therapy combining PTNS and anti-muscarinic had supportive data to this consideration.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document