Necrotizing Fasciitis: Pearls & Pitfalls

thigh fluid gas ct scan

A 39-year-old woman presents to the ED with leg pain and fever. She initially noted redness and pain above her knee 2 weeks ago and was evaluated at an outside hospital. She completed a 10-day course of oral antibiotics for cellulitis. Over the last two days, she has had progressive leg swelling of her entire right thigh. The pain is now so severe that she is having difficulty walking. Her past medical history is negative for diabetes mellitus, chronic liver disease, or alcohol and IV drug use.

On exam, she is febrile to 102.7 F, heart rate is 96 bpm, and blood pressure is 112/65. She has a 12 cm area of faint erythema on her right thigh and tenderness to palpation of her entire right leg with diffuse edema. There is no ecchymosis or bullae formation. (more…)

Read More

Fish Skin for Human Wounds: Iceland’s Pioneering Treatment

Fish Skin for Human Wounds

The FDA-approved skin substitute reduces inflammation and transforms chronic wounds into acute injuries.

Six hours north of Reykjavik, along a narrow road tracing windswept fjords, is the Icelandic town of Isafjordur, home of 3,000 people and the midnight sun. On a blustery May afternoon, snow still fills the couloirs that loom over the docks, where the Pall Palsson, a 583-ton trawler, has just returned from a three-day trip. Below the rust-spotted deck, neat boxes are packed with freshly caught fish and ice. “If you take all the skins from that trawler,” says Fertram Sigurjonsson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Kerecis Ltd., gesturing over the catch, “we would be able to treat one in five wounds in the world.” (more…)

Read More

Severe Burn Victims May Soon Be Able to Regrow Hair-Bearing Skin

Regenerates Full-Thickness Hair-Bearing Skin in Burns and Wounds

PolarityTE (TM) Regenerates Full-Thickness Hair-Bearing Skin in Burns and Wounds Using Their Revolutionary Platform Technology. First ever known successful regeneration of full-thickness skin and hair; Company poised to initiate human trial in the third quarter of 2017; Management to host conference call Thursday, June 8th at 4:30pm ET.

Salt Lake City, UT — (Marketwired) — 06/08/17 — PolarityTE™, Inc. (NASDAQ: COOL) today announced pre-clinical results demonstrating that the Company’s lead product, SkinTE™, regenerated full-thickness, organized skin and hair follicles in third degree burn wounds. The findings represent the first known successful regeneration of skin and hair in full-thickness swine wound models, the standard animal model for human skin. The Company expects to initiate a human clinical trial evaluating the autologous homologous SkinTE™ construct in the third quarter of 2017. (more…)

Read More

Contributing to this website

Share your wound care insights and knowledge through WoundCareAdvisor.com

Consider contributing pertinent, useful information that health care professionals can utilize in the wound care practices

Sometimes we all think “It would be great to share this information with my peers”.  WoundCareAdvisor.com invites you to do just that. . .share best practices, interesting case studies, practice information such as assessment techniques or documentation tips and more through our popular website. (more…)

Read More

Smart bandage uses nanosensors to track how a wound is healing

smart bandage

Bandages are intended to keep a dressing secure and clean in order to reduce healing time and infection rate. However, they may be about to get a new use-case, courtesy of a project from the United Kingdom’s Swansea University Institute of Life Science.

What researchers there have been working on is a new smart bandage capable of tracking how a wound is healing and sending that data back to doctors, via 5G technology. To do this it would employ tiny “nanosensors” able to fit comfortably within the fabric of regular bandages. (more…)

Read More

Atrium Medical Center division earns award for clinical excellence

atrium wound care division

MIDDLETOWNThe Wound Care Center and Hyperbaric Services at Atrium Medical Center recently was recognized with a national award for clinical excellence.

The Center of Distinction Award was presented by Healogics, the nation’s leading and largest wound care management company. The center was also honored with the Healogics President’s Circle Award.

The awards recognize outstanding clinical outcomes for 12 consecutive months, including patient satisfaction higher than 92 percent, and a wound healing rate of at least 91 percent in less than 31 median days. (more…)

Read More

Wound care technology invented at S&T hits marketplace

Wound care technology invented at S&T

A glass-based wound care product that emerged from research by a doctoral student at Missouri University of Science and Technology has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for human use and is now available on the commercial market.

Steve Jung laid the groundwork for the Mirragen Advanced Wound Matrix while earning a master’s degree in ceramic engineering and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at Missouri S&T. Jung is now chief technology officer at Mo-Sci Corp., a Rolla specialty glass manufacturer that continued the product’s development in collaboration with ETS Wound Care, also of Rolla. (more…)

Read More

Webinars

Winning the battle of skin tears in an aging population

"Skin tears" may sound like a relatively minor event, but in reality, these injuries can have a significant impact on the quality of patients' lives in the form of pain, infection, and limited mobility.

The incidence of skin tears has been reported to be as high as 1.5 million annually, and with an aging population, this number is likely to go higher.

In this webinar, experts will explain how nurses can use an evidence-based approach -- including following practice guidelines to assess the wound and select the proper dressing -- for managing skin tears and minimizing their negative effects.

[thrive_lead_lock id=’10942′][/thrive_lead_lock]

Skin Damage Associated with Moisture and Pressure

• Identify how wounds are classified according to wound depth and etiology

• Describe the etiology of pressure injury and incontinence- associated skin damage (IAD)

• Understand evidenced-based protocols of care for prevention and management of IAD and pressure injuries

• Recognize and describe NPUAP-EPUAP Pressure Injury Classification System

• Understand appropriate ConvaTec products that can be used for prevention and treatment of IAD and pressure injuries

[thrive_lead_lock id=’10974′][/thrive_lead_lock]

Read More

Covenant Health Wound Care Experts Earn National, Regional Recognition

Covenant Health

LUBBOCK, TX (NEWS RELEASE) – The Covenant Center for Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine has been honored as a Wound Care Center® of the Year by Healogics, Inc., the nation’s leading and largest wound care management company. The center also was awarded Center of Distinction and the President’s Circle Award.

The center has achieved patient satisfaction rates higher than 92 percent, a healing rate of at least 91 percent in less than 31 median days and healed almost 90 percent of its patients in less than 14 weeks. Out of the 630 Centers eligible in 2016, only seven centers across the country received this prestigious award. Covenant’s center was awarded as Center of the Year for the southwest region, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico. (more…)

Read More

Business Consult

The power of the positive

Being positive in a negative situation is not naïve. It’s leadership. — Ralph S. Marston, Jr., au…
Read More

ETS Wound Care wins FDA nod for Mirragen wound matrix

ETS Wound Care

ROLLA, Mo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ETS Wound Care LLC, an Engineered Tissue Solutions (ETS) subsidiary focused on commercializing next generation wound care solutions, announced MIRRAGEN™ Advanced Wound Matrix was cleared by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of acute and chronic wounds. MIRRAGEN™ is a fully resorbable borate glass matrix comprised of fibers and beads proven to be highly effective in wound care management.

MIRRAGEN™ represents a breakthrough discovery for chronic and acute wound management due to its unique borate-based fiber matrix. MIRRAGEN™ is packed into wounds to manage and control wound fluids, while the resorbable matrix provides an environment for optimal wound healing. To learn more about the technology, click here. (more…)

Read More

Best Practices

A case of missed care

By Lydia A. Meyers RN, MSN, CWCN Missed care, a relatively new concept in the medical community, …

“Ouch! That hurts!”

By Donna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS Wound pain can have a profound effect on a person’s…
Read More
1 3 4 5 6 7 24