Lights, fluorescence, action-Influencing wound treatment plans including debridement of bacteria and biofilms.

High bacterial loads within chronic wounds increase the risk of infection and complication. Detection and localization of bacterial loads through point-of-care fluorescence (FL) imaging can objectively inform and support bacterial treatment decisions. This single time-point, retrospective analysis describes the treatment decisions made on 1000 chronic wounds (DFUs, VLUs, PIs, surgical wounds, burns, and others) at 211 wound-care facilities across 36 US states. Clinical assessment findings and treatment plans derived from them, as well as subsequent FL-imaging (MolecuLight®) findings and any associated treatment plan changes, were recorded for analysis. FL signals indicating elevated bacterial loads were observed in 701 wounds (70.8%), while only 293 (29.6%) showed signs/symptoms of infection. After FL-imaging, treatment plans changed in 528 wounds as follows: more extensive debridement (18.7%), more extensive hygiene (17.2%), FL-targeted debridement (17.2%), new topical therapies (10.1%), new systemic antibiotic prescriptions (9.0%), FL-guided sampling for microbiological analysis (6.2%), and changes in dressing selection (3.2%). These real-world findings of asymptomatic bacterial load/biofilm incidence, and of the frequent treatment plan changes post-imaging, are in accordance with clinical trial findings using this technology. These data, from a range of wound types, facilities, and clinician skill sets, suggest that point-of-care FL-imaging information improves bacterial infection management.

Implementation of Wound Hygiene in clinical practice: early use of an antibiofilm strategy promotes positive patient outcomes.

Non-healing wounds are devastating for patients, potentially causing long-term morbidity and an impaired quality of life. They also incur a huge health economic burden for health-care services. Understanding of the causes of non-healing wounds has increased significantly. While the need to address the underlying aetiology has always been acknowledged, the role of biofilm in delaying or preventing healing is now accepted. There is a consensus on the need to debride the wound to remove biofilm and then prevent its reformation, to kickstart healing. The potential benefits of incorporating an antibiofilm component within the wound bed preparation framework are clear. However, such a strategy needs to be flexible enough so that it can be implemented by all practitioners, regardless of their expertise or specialty. Wound Hygiene does this. This supplement describes the Wound Hygiene protocol, and includes a selection of case studies on different wound types, demonstrating its ease of use and effectiveness in clinical practice.

Guidelines for Point-of-Care Fluorescence Imaging for Detection of Wound Bacterial Burden Based on Delphi Consensus.

Excessive levels of bacteria impede wound healing and can lead to infectious complications. Unfortunately, clinical signs and symptoms of elevated bacterial burden are often unreliable. As a result, point--of--care fluorescence imaging, used to detect critical bacterial burden in wounds, is becoming widely recognized and adopted by clinicians across the globe as an accepted and added component of wound assessment protocol. A Delphi method was employed to establish consensus guidelines describing fluorescence imaging use. A multidisciplinary panel of 32 wound experts (56% MD, 22% podiatrist, 12.5% nurses/nurse practitioners) representing multiple sites of service (e.g., hospital outpatient, inpatient, private office, long-term care) completed two rounds of online questionnaires. The Delphi included key topics, including competencies required to perform imaging, clinical indications for imaging (e.g., signs/symptoms present, procedures warranting imaging), frequency of imaging, and a clinical workflow algorithm. Describing their clinical experiences of imaging impact, >80% reported changes in treatment plans, 96% reported that imaging-informed treatment plans led to improved wound healing, 78% reported reduced rates of amputations, and 83% reported reduced rates of microbiological sampling. The guidelines provided here will help to standardize use of fluorescence imaging among wound care providers and enhance the quality of patient care.

Clinical experience using a dehydrated amnion/chorion membrane construct for the management of wounds.

INTRODUCTION: Over time, acute and chronic, nonhealing wounds impose heavy financial and quality-of-life burdens on patients. The introduction of new therapies for wounds is essential in benefiting the patient, and in this report, the clinical experience of various wound care providers treating wounds with dehydrated amnion/chorion membrane (dACM) is presented. OBJECTIVE: This retrospective clinical experience evaluated the effects of dACM in the treatment of 50 acute and chronic wounds of various etiologies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective case data of patients who received dACM as part of the course of treatment for a variety of acute and chronic wounds were obtained from 15 wound care institutions. The case data, consisting of patient history, previous wound care treatments, wound types and sizes, dACM applications and adjunctive treatments, and wound outcomes following dACM applications, were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean (standard deviation [SD]) baseline wound areas were recorded for all wounds (N = 50; 11.251 cm2, SD = 15.575), venous leg ulcers (VLUs; n = 14; 18.756 cm2, SD = 20.848), diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs; n = 24; 10.387 cm2, SD = 14.432), and other wounds (n = 12; 4.225 cm2, SD = 2.074), respectively. With a mean of 5.9 (SD = 2.94) dACM applications per wound, 28 of 50 wounds (56%) achieved complete wound closure by the last observation. Of the ones that did not completely close, 9 (18%) had > 90% wound closure, and 8 (16%) had wound closure percentages ranging from 60% to 90% by the last observation. Of the total number of wounds, 45 (90%) had wound closure percentages between 60% to 100%. The median time to complete wound closure (or healing) for all wounds was 102 days (14.57 weeks), and the percent healing rates of all wounds healed at 16 and 24 weeks was 56% and 73%, respectively. For DFUs treated with dACM, the median time to healing was 120 days (17.14 weeks) and the percent healing rates at 16 and 24 weeks were 43% and 59%, respectively. For VLUs treated with dACM, the median time to healing was 90 days (12.86 weeks), with percent healing rates of 56% and 85% at 16 and 24 weeks, respectively. For all other wounds treated with dACM (including pressure ulcers, nonhealing surgical, ischemic, mixed etiology, and nonhealing amputation), the median time to healing was 48 days (6.86 weeks), with percent healing rates of 57% and 100% at 16 and 24 weeks, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective case compilation of clinical experiences in patients with various acute and chronic wounds demonstrates that dACM may be beneficial in the treatment of wounds.