Valdés AM, Angderson C, Giner JJ, et al.
Ostomy/wound management. Date of publication 1999 Jun 1;volume 45(6):30-6.
1. Ostomy Wound Manage. 1999 Jun;45(6):30-6.
A multidisciplinary, therapy-based, team approach for efficient and effective
wound healing: a retrospective study.
Valdés AM(1), Angderson C, Giner JJ.
Author information:
(1)Wound Clinic at Norwegian American Hospital, Chicago, Ill., USA.
This paper presents a 4-year retrospective study (1994 to 1998) of therapy-based
treatment outcomes for chronic wounds of all stages and most common etiologies.
Treatment in this study consists of outpatient wound treatments given by trained
therapists and nurses who were supervised by the podiatrist or internist. Many
patients were referred to the clinic for last-resort treatment (i.e., electrical
stimulation, topical hyperbaric therapy, etc.) before major lower extremity
amputations: hip disarticulation, above knee amputation (AKA), below-knee
amputation (BKA). This study does not consider age, sex, chronicity, or ethnicity
because the authors want to demonstrate the effectiveness of this treatment
approach for healing chronic wounds notwithstanding these variables. Wound
healing was achieved in 100% of patients who completed their treatment program
(233 patients with 242 wounds). This study shows the total average healing time
for wounds is 7 weeks for Stage II wounds, 10 weeks for Stage III wounds, and 19
weeks for Stage IV wounds. The average healing time for diabetic wounds is 14
weeks (wounds of neuropathic origin heal in 12 weeks and wounds of ischemic
origin heal in 16 weeks). The average healing time for venous stasis wounds is 8
weeks. The study includes patients with ischemia who are not candidates for
revascularization. The authors assert that the most effective treatment for wound
healing is a therapy-based, multidisciplinary team approach. This retrospective
study shows that the goal of complete healing is attainable.
PMID: 10655860 [Indexed for MEDLINE]
