Commentary: Biology and Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Diabetic foot ulceration (DFU) remains a serious healthcare problem. DFUs can seriously affect a patient’s quality of life with potential grave consequences, including prolonged hospitalization and lower-limb amputation. Furthermore, DFUs can have considerable socioeconomic impact because of the heavy economic burden they place on the health-providing system.

The encouraging news is that during the last two decades, our understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology of wound healing has increased dramatically, and, as a result, advanced treatments based on this knowledge are starting to become available to the clinician. In this issue of WOUNDS, a review by Dinh, et al., describes the mechanism of action of these new treatments, which hopefully will aid the wound care clinician when deciding when and how to use these treatments.

I am also very glad to include four original papers in this issue. These papers cover a wide range of topics, from epidemiology to wound classification and conservative osteomyelitis treatment. One thing these papers have in common is their coverage of topics that are currently at the forefront of debate regarding the pathogenesis and management of the diabetic foot. Therefore, I hope these papers will help our readers to evaluate their strategies and improve their therapeutic efficacy.

Finally, I am happy to see that all four original papers are coming from four different countries. This is another indication that the field of wound healing is coming of age, which has created scientific interest all over the world. It also indicates the potential of WOUNDS to become the main rostrum for the publication of clinical reports regarding wound healing world-wide. We are all looking forward to more original article submissions in the future.

I would like to finish by expressing my sincere thanks to the Editor, David Rovee, PhD, for trusting me to edit this issue and to Executive Editor, Elizabeth Klumpp, for her valuable support in producing it.