In the laboratory, researchers increased the bactericidal effect of antibiotics 64-fold with the use of a new hydrogel. The material made the antibiotics effective even against resistant bacteria.
New technology shows promise in protecting an implant against infections from resistant bacteria: By heating up small nanorods of gold with near-infrared light (NIR), the bacteria are killed.
Rsearchers developed a novel bioelectronic device that taps into the natural electrical activity of certain bacteria found on our skin, paving the way for a drug-free approach to managing infections.
Women whose Fallopian tubes are removed during sterilization have only marginally more surgical complications than those whose tubes are simply cut, a study shows.
Why are we doing what we are doing to stop surgical infections? A new research review in the run-up to the ECCMID congress 2024 will look at improving preventive measures.
Contraception, wound healing, arthritis treatment: Here are three recent papers published in ACS journals that could expand the beneficial uses for nanoparticles, based on results in rats.
Smart catheters, smart diapers or wound dressings: a new approach to wireless biosensors from Malmö University opens up options for more patient-controlled ways of infection detection.
Chronic wounds in diabetes patients are often slow to heal, which can lead to serious infections and even limb amputation. Now, researchers propose to address this with a magnetic wound-healing gel.
A newly discovered mechanism involving exosomes can drive inflammation and impair healing of wounds in diabetes patients, according to a new study led by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers.
Scientists have developed a device that works with a smartphone or tablet to capture medical images which can identify infected wounds through thermal and fluorescence imaging.
A new kind of smart bandage developed at Caltech may make treatment of chronic wounds - for example caused by diabetes - easier, more effective, and less expensive.
Researchers from the US, Singapore and Geneva have developed a novel combination therapy using an anticancer agent for treating vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE).
Researchers at the University of New South Wales unveil prototype device that can directly 3D print living cells onto internal organs and potentially be used as an all-in-one endoscopic surgical tool.
In the future, many types of open surgeries will be replaced with minimally invasive interventions, predicts Kevin Cleary, PhD, engineering lead at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital, and Professor of Pediatrics and Radiology at George Washington University, both in Washington, D.C. Surgeons and interventional radiologists will be able…
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust have developed a new biosensor capable of accurately monitoring the condition of a chronic wound.
Indwelling catheters through the urethra often cause bacterial infections. A newly discovered synthetic peptide is a promising treatment option, even against antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
Light therapy may accelerate the healing of skin damage from radiation therapy by up to 50%, according to a recent University at Buffalo-led study.
Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast have invented a tiny indicator that changes colour if a patient’s wound shows early signs of infection.
To detect wound complications as soon as they happen, a team of researchers has invented a smart suture that is battery-free and can wirelessly sense and transmit information from deep surgical sites.
To counteract the spread of resistant germs, researchers have developed new drug candidates that are able to render one of the most important hospital germs harmless.
Experts predict that without intervention, the problem of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections could be catastrophic by 2050, killing nearly 10 million people each year.
Smartphone pictures of post-surgical wounds taken by patients and then assessed by clinicians can help with the early identification of infections, a study has found.
Focused ultrasound waves create microbubbles in a fluid – a phenomenon called cavitation. In a current study, this process is used to destroy liver tumors and metastases. In this Medica-tradefair.com interview, Prof. Maciej Pech talks about testing cavitation events generated during histotripsy, explains the process, and reveals its advantages.
Wound infections are the most common problem after surgery, but promised innovations to tackle the issue do not work and global guidance needs changing.
The skin bacterium Staphylococcus aureus often develops antibiotic resistance. It can then cause infections that are difficult to treat. Researchers at the University of Bonn have uncovered an ingenious way in which a certain strain of Staphylococcus aureus protects itself against the important antibiotic vancomycin. The results have now been published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum.
A research team led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), in collaboration with clinical partners from Singapore General Hospital, has developed a smart wearable sensor that can conduct real-time, point-of-care assessment of chronic wounds wirelessly…
Customizable to individual patients and requiring less than 10 minutes to prepare and use, new surgical implant coating prevented 100% of infections in mice.
Researchers at RMIT University in Australia have developed smart wound dressings with built-in nanosensors that glow to alert patients when a wound is not healing properly. The multifunctional, antimicrobial dressings feature fluorescent sensors that glow brightly under UV light if infection starts to set in and can be used to monitor healing progress.
Artificial Intelligence in health and care is being introduced across the UK via a major national project that is already producing a range of innovations. Latest developments were outlined to the online Intelligent Health conference in a headlining presentation by Dr Indra Joshi, Director of AI at NHSX, which is a joint unit bringing together teams from NHS England and NHS Improvement, and the…
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new material that prevents infections in wounds – a specially designed hydrogel, that works against all types of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant ones. The new material offers great hope for combating a growing global problem. The World Health Organization describes antibiotic-resistant bacteria as one of…
Researchers at Duke University and the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a biomaterial that significantly reduces scar formation after wounding, leading to more effective skin healing. This new material, which quickly degrades once the wound has closed, demonstrates that activating an adaptive immune response can trigger regenerative wound healing, leaving behind stronger and…
There are many reasons why for some patients a visit to the doctor’s office is difficult or well-nigh impossible – limited mobility after surgery, old age, or a handicap. For others, particularly in rural areas, the doctor is often far away and/or difficult to reach due to poor public transport. In times of corona, another important issue emerged: infection protection.
In order to combat bacterial wound infections, Empa researchers have developed cellulose membranes equipped with antimicrobial peptides. Initial results show: The skin-friendly membranes made of plant-based materials kill bacteria very efficiently. If germs invade a wound, they can trigger a long-lasting infection that may fail to heal or even spread throughout the body, leading to…
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a synthetic peptide that can make multidrug-resistant bacteria sensitive to antibiotics again when used together with traditional antibiotics, offering hope for the prospect of a combination treatment strategy to tackle certain antibiotic-tolerant infections.
Antibiotic resistance is an increasing battle for scientists to overcome, as more antimicrobials are urgently needed to treat biofilm-associated infections. However, scientists from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick say research into natural antimicrobials could provide candidates to fill the antibiotic discovery gap.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a new hydrogel based on the body’s natural peptide defense. It has been shown to prevent and treat infections in wounds. The formulation kills multi-resistant bacteria, something that is increasing in importance with antibiotic resistance growing globally. “The ability to effectively heal wounds is key for our survival in evolutionary…
War wounds sustained by frontline soldiers or civilians usually need urgent, specialist, trauma surgery. Over the last two decades much has been learned from injuries sustained during conflicts in, for example, Afghanistan and Iraq. In early June, during a Catastrophe and War Wound key session at the European Wound Management Association conference in Gothenburg, specific remedial approaches to…
Layering minute amounts of Manuka honey between layers of surgical mesh acts as a natural antibiotic that could prevent infection following an operation, new research has shown. Meshes are used to help promote soft tissue healing inside the body following surgery and are common in operations such as hernia repair. However, they carry with them an increased risk of infection as the bacteria are…
A material that is particularly toxic when bacteria are present in its environment? Physicists from the University of Augsburg, together with colleagues from Hamburg and Munich, have developed just such an "smart" coating. In the future, it could help prevent complications in the healing of endoprostheses. The coating also offers further advantages: It is extremely wear-resistant and…
Stevens Institute of Technology has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Bonbouton, giving the company the right to use and further develop a graphene sensing system that detects early signs of foot ulcers before they form, so diabetic patients can access preventative healthcare and manage their health.
Healthcare is going digital worldwide at an incredibly rapid pace. More and more applications for prevention, diagnostics and therapy are being made into apps (with matching hardware) for smartphones and tablets or are even available as wearables for direct use on the body. Digitalisation is also striding forward in Germany, where doctors, therapists and patients still take a fairly analogue…
For patients with Type 1 diabetes who don’t respond well to insulin or have other serious medical complications caused by their disease, pancreas transplantation offers hope for a cure. But obese candidates who need a pancreas transplant often are denied the procedure because of poor outcomes, including high rates of incision infections, which are linked to an increased risk for failure and…
Many methods to treat current or chronic wounds are available. However, the differences in general conditions prevailing in hospital, or for out-patient care, make effective therapy more difficult. Each patient also has other preconditions for healing. Improved communication between everyone involved in the treatment would benefit patients. We see a lot of progress with the issue of “wounds”,…
Skin has a remarkable ability to heal itself. But in some cases, wounds heal very slowly or not at all, putting a person at risk for chronic pain, infection and scarring. Now, researchers have developed a self-powered bandage that generates an electric field over an injury, dramatically reducing the healing time for skin wounds in rats. They report their results in ACS Nano. Chronic skin wounds…
Results after suturing are not always aesthetic. Wound treatment with tissue adhesives offer a quick healing process, good tolerance and low scarring. Among these, EPIGLU is an especially fast polymerising product, an Ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate with good closure properties even for injuries that are under tension, Meyer-Haake GmbH Medical Innovations reports: ‘The product, which has been on the…
Hip and dental implant operations are routine. But not entirely risk-free. They may result in infection that is difficult to control with oral or intravenous antibiotics. In such cases, the implant will probably need to be replaced. Fraunhofer researchers can now apply a precisely matched drug directly to the replacement implant while significantly increasing the effectiveness of the antibiotic…
Researchers have developed laser-activated nanomaterials that integrate with wounded tissues to form seals that are superior to sutures for containing body fluids and preventing bacterial infection. Tissue repair following injury or during surgery is conventionally performed with sutures and staples, which can cause tissue damage and complications, including infection. Glues and adhesives have…
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an important adjunct to clinical diagnosis and procedural guidance in the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED), supported by literature demonstrating that its use can improve patient safety and expedite life-saving care. POCUS further helps to reduce costs and children’s exposure to ionizing radiation. Not only is POCUS ideally suited for…
Sutures and staples are the traditional methods for closing surgical incisions and wounds in emergency situations. However, these methods can be inadequate in complex surgeries and cannot make an air-tight or liquid-tight seal on a lung or artery wound or incision. Now researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have created a surgical glue that…
Smith & Nephew, the global medical technology business, announces the European launch of MolecuLight i:X, the easy to use, handheld imaging device that instantly measures wound surface area and visualises the presence and distribution of potentially harmful bacteria in wounds. Currently wound assessments are made with the naked eye which can lack the accuracy required to most effectively…
Overcrowding in healthcare systems has become a worldwide phenomenon with regional influences related to the different healthcare structures in different countries. A recent BBC analysis (February 2017) showed that overcrowding afflicted 9 out of 10 NHS hospitals this winter, with 23 declaring ‘black alerts’, as other European hospitals face similar ‘care crises’, especially member states…
Chronic lung infections caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa require complex and, in most cases, long-term treatment with antibiotics—new medication is badly needed.
The association of biofilms with multi-drug resistance has highlighted the need for further understanding of biofilms and for anti-biofilm strategies.
Surgeons at Johns Hopkins Medicine report that their first series of a minimally invasive procedure to treat chronic pancreas disease, known as severe pancreatitis, resulted in shorter hospital stays, less need for opioids and fewer complications, compared with standard surgical approaches.
An experimental treatment in mice allows the reprogramming of blood cells in order to promote the healing process of cutaneous wounds. This approach could prove to be beneficial in healing challenging wounds in diabetics and major-burn victims.
A computer-driven automated drill, similar to those used to machine auto parts, could play a pivotal role in future surgical procedures. The new machine can make one type of complex cranial surgery 50 times faster than standard procedures, decreasing from two hours to two and a half minutes.
As the number of patients and people requiring care increases, exacerbating the shortage of care staff for in- and out-patients, care robots might solve the problem. For menial tasks, many devices can contribute well; however, at the complex interactive human level of care, the idea that advancing technologies could replace human caregivers to alleviate staff shortages is clearly simplistic.
Curetis announced the signing of an asset acquisition agreement with the Siemens Technology Accelerator GmbH (STA). Under the terms of the agreement, Curetis has acquired sole commercial rights from STA to the GEAR GEnetic Antibiotic Resistance and Susceptibility platform and database with all its content, numerous GEAR-related patents and patent applications, as well as all corresponding…
Clinicians around the world have long suspected that bacteraemia due to Staphylococcus aureus has a worse outcome in women compared to men, but direct evidence has been elusive. A study just published confirms that significantly more women than men diagnosed with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) – a blood infection of the common bacteria – die within 30 days.
Wound infections after surgery are not uncommon and can be fatal. In Germany, postoperative wound infections are now the most common type of hospital acquired infection (HAI), with a proportion of 24%.
Jens Hahn MD is an Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Specialist who works with the international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF in English: Doctors Without Borders). Here he describes his work in Afghanistan and South Sudan, and the use of rapid diagnostic tests in the field.
Bioengineers and physicians at the University of California, San Diego have developed a potential new therapy for critical limb ischemia, a condition that causes extremely poor circulation in the limbs and leads to an estimated 230,000 amputations every year in North America and Europe alone to prevent the spread of infection and tissue death. The new therapy could prevent or limit amputations…
Australian researchers develop a new technique that tricks bacterial biofilms into dislodging from their protective matrix, making them vulnerable to treatment with antibiotics.
Should video cameras record surgical procedures? Athletes and sports teams review videotapes of their performance to learn how to make improvements. Could surgeons and operating theatre teams use videotapes for quality improvement and to increase patient safety and clinical outcomes by identifying and reducing errors or bad practice? Or would this be an intrusion, a distraction for a surgical…
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, are developing a new type of bandage. Thanks to advances in flexible electronics, the researchers have created a new "smart bandage" that uses electrical currents to detect early tissue damage from pressure ulcers, or bedsores, before they can be seen by human eyes - and while recovery is still possible.
MRSA is bad news. If you've never heard of it, here's what you need to know: It's pronounced MER-suh, it's a nasty bacterial infection and it can cause serious disease and death. Senior molecular biology major Jacob Hatch knows MRSA as the infection that took his dad's leg.
The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) advocates the need for greater education, guidance and research on the build-up, treatment and prevention of biofilms, which contribute to antimicrobial resistance.
Adults who are worried or terrified sometimes curl up into a fetal position. Likewise, adult cells that are injured, including genetic injury leading to cancer, initiate a process that was present during embryonic development.
Did you know that we offer around 1200 features on laboratory medicine? No? Then you might want to browse through our compilation of interesting articles on pathology, chemistry or management and many more.
Within 15 years effective antibiotics will run out and, far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, a world in which common infections and minor injuries can kill is a very real possibility for the 21st Century. Geoff Sussman, one of the world’s foremost wound experts has warned that antibiotic resistance is posing the biggest single threat to global health. Report: Mark Nicholls
Researchers from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Biomedical Science discovered the ultrasound transmits a vibration through the skin and wakes up cells in wounds helping to stimulate and accelerate the healing process.
The precise number of adverse clinical events is difficult to ascertain. Several international studies estimate that medical errors happen in 3-5% of all hospital treatments and that around 30-50% of these could have been avoided. A hospital-acquired infection (HAI) is also considered a medical error. Report: Anja Behringer
Bioplastics made from protein sources such as albumin and whey have shown significant antibacterial properties, findings that could eventually lead to their use in plastics used in medical applications such as wound healing dressings, sutures, catheter tubes and drug delivery, according to a recent study.
Electricity is not the only thing that should come out of an electrical socket; ideally so should cold atmospheric plasma, according to Dr Georg Daeschlein, at the Dermatology Department, University of Greifswald, who has investigated its medical properties for years. Report: Ralf Mateblowski
A study from Northwestern Medicine and the American College of Surgeons suggests that penalizing hospitals for patient readmissions following surgery may be ineffective, and even counterproductive, for improving the quality of hospital care in America.
The risk of terrorist attacks, nuclear-radiological hazards, power outages and epidemic-pandemic infections as well as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and fires are increasing worldwide. Mass casualty incidents, or MCIs, provide a constant reminder of why hospitals need a plan in place to be able to function optimally during and after a catastrophe.
‘Better hygiene’ is the frequently and loudly recommended panacea in the intensifying struggle against hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). However there are currently no evidence-based studies that evaluate the efficacy of additional hygiene measures.
Although nosocomial infections and medical accidents have declined, over 750 hospitals with the highest number of such cases now face penalties – amounting to an estimated $330 million a year – issued by Medicare.
Postoperative infections after knee or hip joint replacements are among the most feared complications in orthopaedic surgery. At the EFORT Congress in London current research was presented that provides new insights in this field: Fracture patients are especially vulnerable to infection. New biomarkers should improve early diagnosis of risky infections.
The future will be aesthetic or, put another way, Art meets Science. With this motto, the 43rd Congress of the German Society for Endoscopy and Imaging Procedures e.V., jointly held in Munich with six other specialist associations, demonstrated that aesthetic means the brilliance of images generated by the latest generation of X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound equipment.
As in so many European countries, nosocomial infections have hit the headlines in Germany over and over again in recent years – as when three premature babies died in a Bremen neonatal clinic in 2011.
Curetis AG and Heraeus Medical GmbH have signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop a novel Unyvero™ cartridge for the detection of pathogens and antibiotic resistances in implant & tissue infections (ITI).
The world’s first point-of-care wound test, unveiled last November at the Wounds UK conference, is now used by the National Health Service (NHS) -- and internationally.
Annick Chapoy reports on plans to create a Centre of Excellence in Marseille, France.
Even mild perioperative hypothermia can have significant effects on rates of surgical site infections (SSIs), morbid myocardial outcomes, blood loss and transfusion requirements, altering the response to drugs, extending recovery rates, hospital stay and patient discomfort.
In 2011, among Germany’s 82 million people 69.5 million holiday trips were made, each lasting at least five days; 47.8 million (68.8%) of these were abroad.
Prevention is better than a fight against an infected wound – but, to avoid a battle you must know your enemy – and the wound’s infection risk level. Unfortunately, there are no generally accepted definitions for those risk levels. Now, the introduction of a new clinical assessment score – named W.A.R. (wound at risk) – which makes standardised classification of ‘risky’ wounds…
Alere introduced its new PBP2a test, a rapid, lateralflow assay that detects the PBP2a protein found in MRSA directly from Staphylococcus aureus isolates. It is a costeffective, targeted approach to identifying MRSA, the firm points out. Providing results in five minutes, the assay uses samples from cultures (wound, skin, urine, etc.) and has builtin quality controls on every test strip.
Scientists in Scotland have developed a new test using a strip with electrical sensors that can show whether wounds or lesions have been infected with bacteria, including MRSA, Mark Nicholls reports. The hand-held test provides rapid results and allows almost immediate detection of bacteria, which means patients can be given more effective drugs much quicker and speed up their recovery.
Anja Behringer reports on a neglected risk factor. With an aging population multimorbidity is increasingly a major challenge for hospital care. Diabetes is one of the medical conditions frequently encountered in multimorbid patients since cardiac and vascular diseases are often accompanied by dysfunctions of the blood sugar metabolism.
The list of post-operative complications is long. Most common are fever, chest infection, pneumonia, wound infection, bleeding or deep vein thrombosis. As these post-surgical complications can range from minor, self-limiting problems to major life-threatening events, their definition and severity staging can be challenging.
High flexibility and live conditions contribute towards the high popularity of image-guided interventions, now performed under ultrasound control in 80-90% of cases. However, although minimally-invasive examinations are based on high standards of medical safety, complications can arise that could ultimately lead to litigation. Thus, experienced ultrasound operators would be wise to know the…
Professor Bill Keevil, Director of the Environmental Healthcare Unit at University of Southampton’s School of Biological Sciences, was among the first microbiological researchers to experiment on copper’s efficiency against pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains of E. coli bacteria and demonstrate the inherent anti-microbial property of the metal.
The introduction of comprehensive risk management to a hospital is challenging. Although initiating quality and safety processes is often easy, the structural changes in a microcosmic hospital are harder to crack. However, successfully integrated risk management can represent a decisive, competitive advantage in the healthcare market. By Karoline Laarmann
Although there is still disagreement as to ‘how’, when it comes to the question of whether the glucose level affects the prognosis for intensive care patients, the answer is a definite ‘yes’. ‘
Cold plasma jets could be a safe, effective alternative to antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant infections, says a study published this week in the January issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology. The team of Russian and German researchers showed that a ten-minute treatment with low-temperature plasma was not only able to kill drug-resistant bacteria causing wound infections in rats but…
Superantigens, the toxins produced by staphylococcus bacteria, are more complex than previously believed, reveals a team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg in an article published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Their discovery shows that the body’s immune system can cause more illnesses than realised.
When Swiss orthopaedic surgeon Dr Marino Delmi, Past-President of the Swiss Foot & Ankle Society, Member of the Council of the European Foot & Ankle Society, and of the Scientific Foot & Ankle Council of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT), met with other experts in the field, three critical diabetes topics were explored.
Diabetes mellitus is a lingering disease – for a long time it causes subjectively few complaints or no complaints at all. Despite this, it is life-threatening – especially if undiagnosed, or diagnosed too late. However, although diabetes is the most widespread disease it is often only discovered by accident in a hospital, where many hospital doctors feel that diabetology is the responsibility…
Despite some uncertainty about how it works, there is a growing consensus that Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) – also known as Vacuum Assisted Closure (VAC) – is revolutionising wound care. Speaking at the 1st International Surgical Wound Forum, held recently in Amsterdam, surgeons from Europe and the USA predicted the growing use of this innovative technology across the spectrum of…
The normal regulation of the core body temperature of a healthy, resting adult human (around 37°C) is affected during surgery, which can lead to an increased rate of wound infections, bleeding and cardiac complications. The manufacturer of MoeckWarming System reusable blankets reports that these provide comprehensive temperature management to ensure patients remain normothermic.
In hospitals, MRSA is considered Public Enemy Nr 1, and the increase in nosocomial infections, worldwide, has drawn universal attention to this ‘superbug’. However, Staphylococcus aureus is not alone – other pathogens are proving their resistance to antibiotics, in the last decade, gram-negative enterobacteria, which form the enzyme extended-spectrum beta-lactimases (ESBL), have joined the…
Post-operative wound infection occurs after an estimated 17% of surgical operations – sometimes with devastating consequences for the patient. The list of preventive measures is manifold and long. However, one strategy is increasingly moving into the spotlight: the use of antibacterial coated sutures. Ethicon Products is at the cutting edge in this field. Sandra Rasche, head of this Business…
Introduced in mid-2007, Laparo-Endoscopic Single- Site Surgery (LESS Surgery) has shown itself as one of the most significant innovations in medical technology, and Olympus is among the first to provide a complete surgical instrument set tailored specifically for LESS Surgery.
The new Traumastem biodress is the world’s first oxidised cellulose preparation to treat acute and chronic wounds, its Czech manufacturer Bioster a.s. reports.
Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site Surgery (LESS Surgery) is one of the most significant innovations in medical technology. Olympus is now one of the first providers in the world to offer a complete surgical instrument set specially tailored to LESS Surgery.
Full automation has now become the gold standard for clinical laboratories. Without hospital microbiology labs, which according to the Centres for Disease Control deal with 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths annually in the US alone, the growing threat of community-acquired and nosocomial infections could prove insuperable.
In recent years wound management has been primarily nurse-led, and not benefited from a multi-disciplinary approach. This must change, said Madeleine Flanagan, Principal Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire's school of Post Graduate Medicine in the faculty of health and human science, where she runs the MSc in Dermatology and an MSc in Skin Integrity; she is also Principal of the European…
According to ECD statistics for Europe, three million cases of nosocomial infections occur annually, and 50,000 are fatal. Evelina Tacconelli MD PhD (below) is Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy. Her scientific focus is on epidemiology, clinical and therapeutic aspects of nosocomial infections and infection control policies aimed to…
The first strain of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) was isolated in the 1960s, and its presence was reported worldwide in the late 1990s. A higher incidence of MRSA was noted in communities, at the dawn of the new millennium, leading to two basic MRSA strains being differentiated - CA-MRSA (community acquired MRSA) and HA-MRSA (healthcare associated MRSA). In clinical practice…
In `Hard-to-heal wounds: a holistic approach´ a paper produced by the European Wound Management Association (EWMA), the authors analyse the calculation of treatment costs, based on international examples, and point out problems associated with a clear definition of the term treatment costs. They also emphasise the importance of the addition of the term holistic approach.
The Wound Care Unit at the Clinic Pasteur in Toulouse, France, was successfully set up to deliver a multidisciplinary approach to diabetic wound care.
The hugely increasing numbers of diabetics is a medical and financial burden worldwide. Diabetics can, for example, suffer eye and kidney problems and more - five percent of them develop vascular diseases, leading to lower limb and feet ulcerations, which frequently result in amputations if not treated in time. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) can heal ulcers and, because it is…
A wound compress is being developed at the Hohenstein Institute in Boennigheim, Germany, that could pave the way for new treatment opportunities. The new wound compress would integrate and continually deliver effective ingredients on the basis of nanosol technology. The technique speeds up healing, simplifies treatment and reduces the amount of time required for care.
A rapid, portable, point-of-care test for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), developed by TwistDx based on a new way of detecting DNA, was one of nine products chosen from approximately 250 applications submitted to the Smart Solutions for HCAI programme, an NHS project that aims to identify innovative technologies with the potential to fight hospital bugs.
Surgical Site Infection is the most important problem facing surgeons today, according to Professor Miguel Cainzos, of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, speaking at the 2nd EMEA Symposium on New Non-Pharmaceutical ways to reduce surgical site infection.
Dynamic mattresses, also called alternating air pressure mattresses or replacement mattress systems, have air cells that alternately inflate and deflate in a cycle to relieve pressure on the body.
The COMPAMED, the leading specialist international trade fair for suppliers to the medical manufacturing market, is held parallel to the MEDICA, the world's largest medical trade fair, each year and showcases the dynamism and innovative power of the medical technology sector. The COMPAMED 2008, High tech solutions for medical technology, will, with around 500 exhibitors from 30 nations, once…
To fight hospital infections and increasingly resistant bacteria Normeditec has developed Toul Mobile Laminar Airflow
Hospital infections are immensely dangerous. Toul Meditech has therefore developed a new mobile laminar airflow system which can be used in every operating room in addition to the existing ventilation system.
In any hospital, one of the most dreaded enemies is MRSA. This super-resistant pathogen laughs in the face of most antibiotics. But now, medical and hygiene product manufacturer Lohmann & Rauscher may have developed an efficient weapon to fight this ugly beast: a wound dressing that contains polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB).
A meeting with Dr Valerij Mitish was difficult to arrange - every day he's at a different Moscow hospital.
As nosocomial, or healthcare-related infections (HAIs), continue to escalate in the US, and protocols to manage this problem remain complex and confusing, surveillance healthcare IT systems offer hope to gain control of the situation. These offer the potential for data to be uniformly collected, quantified, and assessed. How rapidly they will be implemented enough is unknown.
Little research has been carried out into new therapies for wound healing. As chronic wounds tend to be classed as side effects of other diseases, e.g. diabetes, they are often treated as trivial. However, the body's capacity to heal itself often does not set in for weeks.
The UK's MRSA rates have been declining since 2006 — and this year could be 50% lower than in 2004. This increasing control over dangerous pathogens has not been achieved without considerable hospital staff efforts, relentless public and government pressures on them, and in-house malcontent about the out-sourcing of cleaning work. Given the cost of nosocomial infections to patients, the NHS…
Scientific studies confirm that after 20 years of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) most of these operations have advantages over the equivalent, conventional surgical procedures.
Marie-Luise Müller is President of Deutscher Pflegerat e.V. (German Care e.V) Council, and Chair of its Congress, which was held alongside the Capital Congress on Medicine and Health 2008 in Berlin this June. During our interview, we asked her whether there is too little German medical and political recognition of nursing as a health profession in its own right.
The project “Clean Hands” is Germany's contribution to the WHO initiative “Clean care is safe care”. “Clean Hands” aims at improving hand hygiene in German hospitals in order to significantly reduce nosocomial infections.
Germany - Rather than the time consuming procedure of suturing a wound, Epiglu simply needs adapting to size then application.
The healing environment approach is a comprehensive concept targeting the elimination of stress factors for patients as well as their visitors that would otherwise minimise patient's wellbeing, impair the healing process, or even violate their dignity/privacy.
Born in 1891, Canadian Sir Frederick Banting was destined to become a medical scientist and Nobel Prize winner for work that led to the discovery of insulin. World Diabetes Day, held on his birthday, aims to sensitise the public - including potential patients - to this condition. Worldwide, around 245 million people suffer Diabetes mellitus. With 5.3 million of them in Germany, the country's…
By Dr Sebastian Radmer, of the orthopaedics and rheumatic surgery department at Immanuel Hospital, Berlin
Diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is one of the most serious sequela of diabetes mellitus - Disease management programmes (DMP) yield first results
Launched last year, the Wound Infection Institute (WII), supported by Smith & Nephew Wound Management, now has a 130-strong membership, which include leading clinicians and scientists working to understand more about wound infections and their control.
For the first time in 33 years, wound healing was the focus of a dedicated session at the 33rd annual VEITHsymposium for vascular surgeons in New York (11/06). This underscores the fact that wound healing is heading increasingly towards a speciality that warrants the special attention of dedicated people willing to embrace an interdisciplinary approach to non-healing or complex wounds.
Could a computer programme help? Recommendations of the Robert-Koch-Institute
Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES - a technique that could revolutionize minimally invasive surgery (MIS) by eliminating abdominal incisions - is slowly shifting from research on animal models to human patients.
Every day, patients are admitted to surgeries, hospitals and outpatient clinics with chronic wounds. Careful inspection gives a wound therapist clues to the appropriate primary care required even before further diagnostic procedures are carried out. So what do the clinical signs and symptoms tell us? Report: Heidi Heinold
A dramatic change in the market for painless wound closure devices is predicted during the next five years due to advances in medical and surgical technologies.
It sticks to the skin like a plaster, but this credit-card sized innovation contains an entire patient-controlled drug-delivery system.
Experts call for screening of surgical and medical patients, and thromboprophylaxis for those at risk.
Rationale and effectiveness in the non-healing diabetic foot ulcer patient. By Peter HJ Mueller and Robert A Warriner III
Wound Infection Institute is dedicated to improving infection control.
Is a sharp weapon being blunted? Article by Heidi Heinhold.
According to Federal Office statistics around 30,000 Germans die annually due to nosocomial infections.
Germany - The third Hugo Schottmüller Prize, awarded by the German Sepsis Society (DSG), has been presented to Dr Marc W Merx, of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technical University (RWTH) Hospital, Aachen, for his paper 'HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor Simvastatin Profoundly Improves Survival in a Murine Model of Sepsis', published in the journal Circulation.
Preoperative removal of hair from an operative site is important measures for avoiding postoperative wound infections.