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Effectively Managing the Patient Not Just the Problem

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Dear Readers,

“Why is that patient so noncompliant?” How many times have you asked this question half in wonderment and half in frustration? Compliance with wound care instructions can be a difficult concept to understand for both patient and caregiver. To be compliant, the patient being treated for a chronic wound must be willing and able to follow our directions. One major issue facing caregivers is devising a care plan without asking if the patient understands it and is able to carry it out. A recent issue in our wound center has involved some patients with diabe

Evidence Corner

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Dear Readers:

Healing the foot or leg ulcer (DU) of a patient with diabetes lowers his or her risk of lower-extremity amputation, a frequent precursor of morbidity and mortality.¹ Evidence-based management requires
consistent offloading or protection of the DU site, metabolic control, and a moist wound environment^1,2 in addition to careful debridement.^2,3Clinicians may choose from a variety of topical modalities. Despite evidence of improved healing relative to placebo or gauze^5–7 none of these seem widely

Wound Care Essentials: Practice Principles

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Wound Care Essentials: Practice Principles (soft cover) promises to provide evidence-based guidance on wound management and practical advice for all clinicians. For a book of this size and scope, the findings and material are rather impressive. The book is divided into 2 sections—Wound Care Concepts and Wound Classifications and Management Strategies. The information presented is up to date, representing the state of the art of wound care at the time of publication. The author/editors are well known wound care specialists and are complemented by an additional 31 contrib

Acceleration of Full-thickness Wound Healing in Porcine Model by Autologous Platelet Gel

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Platelets contain many growth factors that have been postulated to play an important role in the wound healing process and re-epithelization. Autologous platelet-rich plasma gel (APG) was developed in the early 1970s as a by-product of multicomponent pheresis. Techniques and equipment have dramatically improved in the last decade. APG contains supraphysiologic amounts of various platelet growth factors. It is produced from platelet concentrate plus thrombin/calcium mixture. APG is a fibrin tissue adhesive with hemostatic and tissue sealing properties, which can be used to improve wound heal

The Biological Mechanisms Behind Injury and Inflammation: How They Can Affect Treatment Strategy, Product Performance, and Heali

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Disclosure: Dr. Parenteau and Dr. Young are principals of Parenteau BioConsultants, Inc. This article represents a synopsis of some findings from a report series published and sold by the firm.

The scientific understanding of wound healing has advanced significantly over the last 20 years. In the last 5 to 10 years alone, the biology of inflammation, repair, and regeneration has been advanced by the tremendous effort to understand factors and signaling mechanisms involved in inflammation, angiogenesis, and cell proliferation—particularly as they relate

Vacuum-assisted Closure Therapy Attenuates the Inflammatory Response in a Porcine Acute Wound Healing Model

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Disclosure: Financial support for this study was provided by KCI.

Initial injury to the skin triggers coagulation and an acute inflammatory response followed by cell recruitment, proliferation, and matrix synthesis. Disruption in any of these stages of the healing response can either delay or significantly impair wound healing. For example, failure to resolve inflammation can lead to chronic nonhealing wounds, whereas uncontrolled matrix accumulation, often involving aberrant pathways, can lead to excess scarring and fibrotic sequelae. Pro-inflammatory

Treatment of Postherniorrhaphy Inguinal Abscess by Hydrofiber: A Possible Option of Leaving Mesh In situ?

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Hernia surgery is one of the most commonly performed operations in surgical practice. Groin hernia surgery is associated with a number of complications including visceral injury, neuro-vascular injury, seroma formation, anesthetic complications, infection, and those related to prosthesis. With the increasing utilization of prosthesis in hernia surgery a number of complications became evident, and several dismal outcomes occurred as a result of prosthesis misuse. Previously it was believed that the incidence of infection in mesh hernioplasty was more common than conservative surgery.^1,2

April 2007

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Versiva® Adhesive Dressing Heals Wounds More Gently

Versiva® is one of ConvaTec’s (Princeton, NJ) latest premium foam composite dressings that synergistically combines foam with Hydrofiber® technology to reduce the common shortcomings of traditional foam dressings, such as lack of fluid retention, high risk of maceration due to oversaturation of the wound bed, and inability to maintain an optimally moist wound environment.
This dressing supports wound healing with an optimal moisture balance and is designed to remove more gently and with less t

April 2007

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:09 -0400

Smith & Nephew Announces Worldwide Agreement With Covalon Technologies

Smith & Nephew’s (Largo, Fla) Advanced Wound Management division announces the signing of an exclusive worldwide sales, marketing, and distribution agreement with Covalon technologies (Mississauga, Ontario) for their advanced range of collagen dressings. Smith & Nephew Advanced Wound Management will be the sole distributor of ColActive™ products globally, effectively immediately.
The agreement not only allows the distribution of ColActive range of products based on Cov