Wound Bed Preparation 2021.

GENERAL PURPOSE: To present the 2021 update of the Wound Bed Preparation paradigm. TARGET AUDIENCE: This continuing education activity is intended for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurses with an interest in skin and wound care. LEARNING OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES: After participating in this educational activity, the participant will: 1. Apply wound assessment strategies. 2. Identify patient concerns about wound care. 3. Select management options for healable, nonhealable, and maintenance wounds.

Wound Bed Preparation is a paradigm to optimize chronic wound treatment. This holistic approach examines the treatment of the cause and patient-centered concerns to determine if a wound is healable, a maintenance wound, or nonhealable (palliative). For healable wounds (with adequate blood supply and a cause that can be corrected), moisture balance is indicated along with active debridement and control of local infection or abnormal inflammation. In maintenance and nonhealable wounds, the emphasis changes to patient comfort, relieving pain, controlling odor, preventing infection by decreasing bacteria on the wound surface, conservative debridement of slough, and moisture management including exudate control. In this fourth revision, the authors have reformulated the model into 10 statements. This article will focus on the literature in the last 5 years or new interpretations of older literature. This process is designed to facilitate knowledge translation in the clinical setting and improve patient outcomes at a lower cost to the healthcare system.

Contact allergens in persons with leg ulcers: a Canadian study in contact sensitization.

Individuals with chronic leg ulcers often develop contact allergic reactions to topical preparations used to treat their wounds and the surrounding skin. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of positive patch test responses to common allergens in patients with leg ulcers or venous disease. A case series of 100 consecutive, consenting patients with chronic venous disease and other causes of leg ulcers that were available for patch testing were enrolled. The patients were tested with 38 common allergens, including those most relevant to leg ulcers. A total of 46% of the patients had at least 1 positive patch test response. Multiple reactions in the same patient were common. The most frequent groups of sensitizers were fragrances, lanolin, antibacterial agents, and rubber-related allergens. Though the prevalence of positive patch test reactions is high in this population, it is lower than commonly reported. This may be the result of clinical practice that considered the avoidance of common sensitizers in the management of patients with leg ulcers.

Using a dermal skin substitute in the treatment of chronic wounds secondary to recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa: a case series.

Epidermolysis bullosa is a family of genetic disorders that cause blistering and shearing of the skin from even the mildest trauma. Care generally focuses on preventing infection, protecting the skin against trauma, attending to nutritional deficiencies and dietary complications, minimizing deformities and contractures, and providing psychological support for the entire family. One approach to the treatment of chronic wounds in Epidermolysis bullosa involves tissue engineering, where cells similar to those of the skin, grown on a three-dimensional scaffold, are used to induce healing. Charts of six young people (ages 8 years to 23 years; four girls, two boys) with recessive dystrophic Epidermolysis bullosa who received applications of a dermal skin substitute to persistent erosions at multiple body sites (55) at successive clinic visits were reviewed. Each patient received between seven and 32 skin substitute applications to between six and 19 sites; patients were followed for at least 8 weeks. At weeks 1 to 2, epidermal coverage ranged between 80% and 100%. Some sites had persistent coverage but others experienced breakdown. Four patients had hand surgery and the living skin substitute was used postsurgically to provide coverage for the epidermal defects. Overall in these six cases, the dermal skin substitute proved advantageous to wound protection, healing, and symptom relief. Compassionate care combined with optimal wound care and advancing technology may offer an effective antidote to the wounding and pain of this devastating disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis-associated inflammatory leg ulcers: a new treatment for recalcitrant wounds.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis may develop leg ulcers of varied aetiologies, including venous disease, infection and inflammation (vasculitis or pyoderma gangrenosum). The leg ulcers in rheumatoid arthritis patients may involve several of these aetiological factors and are often difficult to heal. Both the ulcers and the treatments are often painful, and these ulcers may be present for years. A new oxidised regenerated cellulose and collagen dressing has been developed for slow-to-heal wounds and may have a role in the management of superficial inflammation that may persist in many of these ulcers, although clinically it is difficult to distinguish this from critical colonisation or frank infection. Venous disease requires compression therapy. Deep compartment infection should be treated with systemic antimicrobials, and inflammatory processes extending beyond the superficial wound base require disease-specific systemic anti-inflammatory agents. Four patients with recalcitrant wounds resistant to best practice were treated successfully with this new dressing combined with a strategy to control bacterial burden.