When it comes to the physical scars surgery leaves behind, a new study shows patients and doctors often don’t assess their severity the same way. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found patients and physicians disagreed in their scar evaluations 28 percent of the time, with patients more likely to focus on the depth of the scar while physicians…
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…
Princeton researchers have discovered that when water flows around long plastic fibers, the flexible fiber strands tangle like a plate of spaghetti. Instead of a muddled mess, however, this product is in fact a highly useful material known as a hydrogel. Investigated for half a century, hydrogels are increasingly finding uses in areas including artificial tissue engineering, sustained drug…
In a sharp and pointy world, wound healing is a critical and marvelous process. Despite a tremendous amount of scientific study, many outstanding mysteries still surround the way in which cells in living tissue respond to and repair physical damage. One prominent mystery is exactly how wound-healing is triggered: A better understanding of this process is essential for developing new and improved…
Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed a coating made out of DNA that gets better at protecting skin from Ultraviolet light the more it is exposed to the sun and which could potentially be used as wound covering for extreme environments.
Doctors have found a way to manipulate wounds to heal as regenerated skin rather than scar tissue. The method involves transforming the most common type of cells found in wounds into fat cells – something that was previously thought to be impossible in humans. Researchers began this work at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which led to a large-scale, multi-year…
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%.
Partners from Germany, Israel, Latvia and Italy will systematically advance the use of biophotonic technologies for industrial, clinical and medical applications in the Biophotonic Technologies for Tissue Repair (BI-TRE) project. As part of the transnational BiophotonicsPlus initiative, the German consortium commenced its activities on September 1, 2015. The goal is to supply oral and…
A nanofiber hydrogel infused with snake venom may be the best material to stop bleeding quickly, according to Rice University scientists.
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.
Many people suffer from skin disorders. Open wounds are a particularly acute problem, especially among the elderly. PlasmaDerm, a new medical technology solution, uses plasma to facilitate faster healing of wounds.
Mobile healthcare is a major buzzword nowadays: take the devices and the data to the patient, not the other way round. Mobility in this concept is not restricted to the hospital where devices and data flow freely from department to department, but encompasses follow-up care at home. Report: Anja Behringer
After acknowledging that too many patients were developing hospital-acquired decubitus ulcers (also known as pressure ulcers or bedsores), staff at England’s Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust adopted a zero tolerance approach and prioritised action against bedsore development, which has resulted in a dramatic decrease in cases.
Annick Chapoy reports on plans to create a Centre of Excellence in Marseille, France.
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.
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…
Every year in Germany, four million wounds leave a legacy of 30 000 amputations and six billion Euros in treatment costs. These shocking figures drew wound experts to the Pflege Kongress 2012 (2012 Care Congress) held in Berlin.
Modern wound management can shorten treatment and turn in-patient treatment into out-patient care, reducing time and costs. It’s all down to today’s more sophisticated materials.
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…
People suffering from diabetes-related foot ulcers show different rates of healing according to the way they cope and their psychological state of mind, according to new research by a health psychologist at The University of Nottingham, UK. The large study published in the journal Diabetologia has shown that the way patients cope with the condition and their levels of depression, affect how the…
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.
Quality in wound care no longer centres only on a successful healing process but is taking a more holistic, patient-orientated approach. Wounds cause pain, impair quality of life, and make treatment far more complex for medical teams. Approaches that facilitate a painless change of dressings and less wound trauma are therefore welcome – and advancing.