Category: Articles

     Clinical Trial for Its Nu-3 Antimicrobial In The Bahamas

SARASOTA, Fla., Jan. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Lakewood-Amedex Inc., a leading developer of novel anti-infective pharmaceuticals, announced today it had entered into a collaboration agreement with Nassau based Foot and Ankle International (Bahamas) to conduct two Phase 2 cDFU clinical trial for its topically applied Nu-3 antimicrobial used to eliminate infection and promote wound healing in patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers (cDFU).   The trial will be under the direction of the prominent Bahamian surgeon, Dr. Daniel Johnson, who is the principal and chief researcher of Foot and Ankle International (Bahamas). He is an acknowledged expert on the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

Nu-3, which belongs to a proprietary class of antimicrobials called Bisphosphocins™, was first used as a solution to treat infected diabetic foot ulcers for seven days in a Phase 1/2 a clinical trial completed late 2017, when it was well-tolerated with no reported adverse events related to treatment. Results showed promising trends with median wound area reduction (change from baseline) of 65.5% in the 2% Nu-3 treatment arm, versus 29.9% in the placebo arm.

Lakewood-Amedex, based in Sarasota, Florida, has developed a proprietary gel formulation of Nu-3, said they intend to conduct a Phase 2 clinical trial commencing early 2019 using this compound to treat chronic diabetic foot ulcers (cDFU), with a 28-day treatment period using escalating concentrations of Nu-3.  The company believes this longer treatment with increased Nu-3 concentration will improve the potential to reach a point of healing or partial healing of the patient’s ulcers.  Lake-Amedex also intends to conduct an ‘adaptive arm’ of this clinical trial which will involve treating an increased number of patients with the most effective concentration of the gel formulation to achieve robust clinical data.

Steve Parkinson, President and CEO of Lakewood-Amedex, said the company will seek to recruit up to 120 patients for the entire clinical trial and has identified the Bahamas as not only an up and coming location for medical specialty in DFU in the treatment of diabetic foot wounds and ulcers, but also a potential source of large numbers of patients … read more

More than 15,000 physicians told Medscape how they feel about burnout, depression, and suicidal thoughts, and also how they attain happiness …  read more

After a flesh wound, skin cells march forward to close the gap and repair the injury. Findings from a team led by Leah Vardy at A*STAR’s Skin Research Institute of Singapore now demonstrate how a carefully regulated set of molecular cues helps coordinate this healing migration … Vardy was particularly interested in a trio of organic molecules known as polyamines, which play a role in cellular proliferation. “They are well studied in cancer, but much less is known about how changes in their levels can drive normal … read more

WHITSETT, N.C., Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Medical device manufacturer medi USA announced the launch of its new ready-to-wear circaid® juxtalite® hd. The juxtalite hd is an inelastic compression wrap for the management of venous disease and venous leg ulcers for patients with moderate to severe edema … Designed with patented, juxtaposing band technology and made with a soft but strong fabric, the juxtalite hd applies graduated compression over the entire lower leg. The effortless juxtaposing bands promote patient self-management and improve quality of life, enabling patients to easily adjust their compression wrap throughout the day and expedite the wound healing process. The juxtalite hd comes with a pair of new circaid compressive undersocks, which apply compression to the foot and ankle areas to effectively manage foot and ankle swelling. circaid products are designed with a patented, Built-In-Pressure System™ (BPS™) that enables multiple, measurable, targeted compression ranges in a single product … read more

HMP, a leader in healthcare events and education, today announced twelve new course locations for the 2019 Wound Certification Prep Course (WCPC), the leading comprehensive wound care training program. Based upon the ongoing demand for clinicians to possess increased specialized knowledge in wound management, WCPC will be expanding its course to 12 cities nationwide, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Chicago. Furthermore, three of the 12 programs will be co-located with HMP’s leading medical conferences: the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Spring and Fall meetings, the world’s largest wound care educational events; and the Amputation Prevention Symposium (AMP) … read more

Orpyx’s foot sensor technology is installed in foot insoles and monitors foot pressure on diabetic patients and those with foot numbness. The tech will then send alerts to smartphones or smartwatches when a person is at risk for a foot injury, so preventative actions can be taken. The company indicated that 25 percent of people with diabetes develop foot ulcers over their lifetime, with one in five of those people experiencing complications that lead to amputation … read more

Scientists have created a ‘bio-scaffold’ that could speed up the healing of wounds.

In a world first, the researchers designed materials that ‘talk’ to the body’s injured tissue to support its repair through every stage of the healing process.

Known as traction force-activated payloads (TrAPs), the scientists believe the technique will have ‘far-reaching uses’ on everything from broken bones to diabetic foot ulcers.

TrAPs were designed by scientists at Imperial College London in a study led by Dr Ben Almquist from the department of bioengineering.

While collagen sponges are already used on burns and scaffold-like implants help to strengthen broken bones, the researchers felt a material should be created that met the changing needs of damaged tissue as it goes through the healing process … read more

New research, published in the journal Advanced Materials, paves the way for “a new generation of materials that actively work with tissues to drive [wound] healing.” … As more and more surgical procedures are performed in the United States, the number of surgical site infections is also on the rise … Chronic wounds that do not heal — such as those that occur in diabetes — often host a wide range of bacteria in the form of a biofilm … Such biofilm bacteria are often very resilient to treatment, and antimicrobial resistance only increases the possibility that these wounds become infected … read more

     of intralesional epidermal growth factor in patients with diabetic foot ulcers

Authors assessed 36 feet of 34 candidates (mean age 61 ± 13.7 years) to examine the long-term consequences of intralesional epidermal growth factor injections in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. They observed participants’ demographics, Wagner classifications, recurrence and amputation rates, 55.40 ± 12.15 of Foot Function Index, Short Form 36, and 65.92 ± 17.56 of American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Foot and Ankle Module scores at the final follow-up review. They noted a complete response of wound closure in 87.9% of lesions with granulation tissue greater than 75%. The meantime of wound closure was recorded from 25 to 72 days. Toe amputation was performed in only 2 participants due to ischemic necrosis, suggesting a low recurrence and concise amputation rate with complete wound healing …. read more

A retrospective study of 513 cases from a single Centre in the Northern Territory of Australia

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are a common problem in longstanding diabetes. However, mortality outcomes in Australian patients with DFU are still unclear … All patients with DFU presenting for the first time to the Multi-Disciplinary Foot Clinic (MDFC) at Royal Darwin Hospital, Northern Territory Australia, between January 2003 and June 2015 were included in this study … read more

     KB103, for Wound Healing

All four patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) enrolled in a Phase 2 study testing the safety and efficacy of Krystal Biotech’s topical gene therapy candidate KB103 have received the treatment.

Results are expected to be known by mid-year.

The protein type 7 collagen (Col7) binds the two top layers of the skin, and its deficit results in blisters and wounds. Mutations in the Col7A1 gene encoding Col7 results in either non-working or insufficient levels of Col7, causing the skin blistering observed in DEB patients.

KB103 is a gene therapy candidate designed to deliver functional Col7 directly to the impacted cells with the help of a modified herpes simplex virus (HSV-1;  this modified virus is unable to cause disease).

In the ongoing six-month study (NCT03536143; GEM-1), underway at Stanford University, KB103 or placebo were applied directly to skin wounds (topical administration) of four DEB patients, two adults and two children (age 5 or older) … read more

The healing of wounded skin in diabetes can be sped up by more than 50 percent using injections of stem cells taken from bone marrow, a new study in mice shows.

The research, led by scientists at NYU School of Medicine, focused on a chain of events in diabetes that makes skin sores more likely to form and less likely to heal.

Namely, the body’s failure in diabetes to break down dietary sugar creates molecules called free radicals that can wreak havoc on cells and damage their DNA. These free radicals also trigger an inrush of immune cells and chemicals meant to fight infection that, researchers say, instead kill normal cells and cause diabetic skin ulcers. These wounds, they note, can take twice as long to heal as in healthy mammals and are prone to infection.

Published in the January issue of the journal Diabetes, the study showed that the injected stem cells restore a cell signaling pathway called Nrf2/Keap1, recently shown by the NYU team to be disrupted in diabetes. The rebalancing brought on by stem cell therapy, the researchers say, decreased wound healing time to 21 days in treated diabetic mice compared with 32 days in untreated diabetic mice. By contrast, normal mouse skin wounds usually heal in 14 days.

“Our study shows that in mice, stem-cell-based therapies can stimulate the Nrf2/Keap1 pathway to counteract … read more

Using electricity to treat skin wounds may sound unconventional, but scientists in China and the US have developed a self-powered bandage that accelerated wound healing in rats. The findings are published in the journal ACS Nano. Skin has a remarkable ability to heal itself, but in some people, such as those suffering from diabetes, wounds heal very slowly or not at all. Such patients are thus at risk of chronic pain, infection and scarring. Doctors have explored various approaches to help chronic wounds heal, including bandaging, dressing, exposure to oxygen and growth-factor therapy, but these methods often show limited effectiveness. Meanwhile, as early as the 1960s, researchers have observed that electrical stimulation could help skin wounds heal. However, the equipment for generating an electric field is often large and may require patient hospitalization … Read more

DeRoyal’s Continuum solution consists of RFID tags and GPS units attached to negative pressure wound pumps, so that each pump can be tracked from the time it is assigned to a patient until that individual is finished using the pump at home, following discharge … Health-care technology company DeRoyal has released a solution for hospitals employing its Continuum UHF RFID-based platform, for use in tracking pumps that are utilized for negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). The system leverages RFID technology built into cabinets, as well as tags and GPS technology—along with cellular and satellite connections—built into pump units to identify where they are located in real time. The solution enables the pumps to be used at hospitals, and to travel with patients after they are discharged, with insurance companies billed accordingly … read more

In mid-November 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finally released new physical activity guidelines (as a 2nd edition) to update their previous set from a decade before. Various activity guidelines for adults with diabetes have been updated several times in the interim, including a 2010 position statement on exercising with type 2 diabetes published jointly by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association; a 2016 ADA position statement on exercise and physical activity for all types of diabetes ; and a consensus statement on being active with type 1 diabetes published in The Lancet in 2017  … In those three sets of recommendations specific to diabetes, it was clear that everyone with diabetes can benefit from being more regularly active … read more

Advancements in molecular microbiology, microscopy technology, and techniques for study of bacteria have increased the ability to identify the existence of biofilms, but there still remains the unknown, such as differentiating between planktonic bacteria and biofilm.¹ Chronic non-healing wounds harbor bacteria across the wound etiology classification.^2–4 Malone et al. determined that the prevalence of biofilms in chronic wounds was 78.2% (confidence interval, 61.6–89, P < 0.002).² The development of biofilms moves through a common pattern: attachment, microcolony formation, maturation, and dispersion. The initial attachment is reversible, but the attachment becomes stronger as cells multiply and change their gene expressions. This cell communication process is referred to as quorum sensing, allowing cells to survive … read more

     Reproducibility and accuracy of a wound measurement app

The wounds of 87 patients were measured using the Swift Wound app and a ruler. The skin surface temperature of 37 patients was also measured using an infrared FLIR^™ camera integrated with the Swift Wound app and using the clinically accepted reference thermometer Exergen DermaTemp 1001. Accuracy measurements were determined by assessing differences in surface area measurements of 15 plastic wounds between a digital planimeter of known accuracy and the Swift Wound app. To evaluate the impact of training on the reproducibility of the Swift Wound app measurements, three novice raters with no wound care training, measured the length, width and area of 12 plastic model wounds using the app. High inter-rater reliabilities (ICC = 0.97–1.00) and high accuracies were obtained using the Swift Wound app across raters of different levels of training in wound care. The ruler method also yielded reliable wound measurements (ICC = 0.92–0.97), albeit lower than that of the Swift Wound app. Furthermore, there was no statistical difference between the temperature differences measured using the infrared camera and the clinically tested reference thermometer … read more

     and Managing Wound Bioburden

Advancements in molecular microbiology, microscopy technology, and techniques for study of bacteria have increased the ability to identify the existence of biofilms, but there still remains the unknown, such as differentiating between planktonic bacteria and biofilm.¹ Chronic non-healing wounds harbor bacteria across the wound etiology classification.^2–4 Malone et al. determined that the prevalence of biofilms in chronic wounds was 78.2% (confidence interval, 61.6–89, P < 0.002).² The development of biofilms moves through a common pattern: attachment, microcolony formation, maturation, and dispersion. The initial attachment is reversible, but the attachment becomes stronger as cells multiply and change their gene expressions. This cell communication process is referred to as quorum sensing, allowing cells to survive … read more

SHOREVIEW, Minn., and TORONTO, On, Nov 30 2018. Maxwell Healthcare Associates (MHA), a post-acute operational, financial, technological and regulatory consulting firm, today announced Swift Skin and Wound as its exclusive digital wound care management solution of choice for MHA home health clients.

The partnership comes just a few weeks before the January 2019 rollout of new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services rules surrounding pressure ulcer prevention and management.

“At Maxwell we believe technology is key to not only surviving but thriving amid constant regulatory changes and reimbursement cuts,” said MHA CEO Tom Maxwell. “We began searching for a wound care technology for our clients and found it in Swift. More than 1,000 facilities are already successfully leveraging Swift Skin and Wound for better clinical outcomes. It’s the only one with a home health-specific focus build that allows home health clinicians to document in and out of the home.”

Swift Skin and Wound significantly improves clinical and administrative wound care management workflows through: the Swift app, which captures wound care information as easily as taking a picture; the Swift HealX, an FDA-registered adhesive marker applied to calibrate wound images for size, color and lighting; and Swift Dashboards that display real-time healing and treatment to help clinicians and administrators identify risks immediately and improve care … read more

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 … read more

A pair of washable and reuseable socks with a special sensor could be key to continuously monitoring foot temperature in patients with diabetic neuropathy, according to a study in JMIR sponsored by Siren, maker of the socks. Researchers found that the socks were able to report temperature within 0.2 degrees Celcius of the reference standard, and that patients found the technology useable.

“The temperature studies conducted show that the sensors used in the socks are reliable and accurate at detecting temperature and the findings matched clinical observations,” the researchers of the study wrote. “Continuous temperature monitoring is a promising approach as an early warning system for foot ulcers, Charcot foot, and reulceration.” … read more

Healogics Research ServicesSM provides comprehensive market and clinical analytics that enable access to the largest database of wounded patients in the world. Healogics Research Services team analyzes comprehensive patient-level data to guide population identification, aid in study protocol development and identify patients for potential enrollment in late phase studies. JACKSONVILLE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Healogics®, the nation’s largest provider of advanced chronic wound care services, today announced the debut of their newest service: Healogics Research ServicesSM. With robust clinical data on treatments and outcomes of over 1.8 million patients with 5.2 million wounds, Healogics has the largest repository of wound care-specific clinical encounter data in the industry. This data enables Healogics Research Services to generate real world insights that drive patient outcomes, product effectiveness and appropriate utilization.

“With our nationwide network of nearly 700 Wound Care Centers®, we care for more than 330,000 patients living with non-healing wounds each year,” said David Bassin, Chief Executive Officer at Healogics. “These numbers translate into meaningful data that enables us to better reach and improve healing for more people living with chronic wounds. We are excited about the unlimited opportunities and insights this new service offers us, our partners and, most importantly, our industry.” … read more

Agreement with Highmark to Improve Patient Engagement, Raise Adherence and Lower Costs

SAN ANTONIO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–KCI, an Acelity Company, a global leader in advanced wound management, and Highmark Inc., a national diversified health care insurance provider, today announced they have entered into a performance-based agreement for the KCI iOn PROGRESS™ Remote Therapy Monitoring Program which aims to improve overall patient experience, while lowering costs through increased engagement and adherence. Used in conjunction with the ACTIV.A.C.™ Therapy System, iOn PROGRESS™ Remote Therapy Monitoring Program consists of 3 key components:

• Monitoring: A proprietary remote monitoring module attached to the ACTIV.A.C.™ Therapy device enables secure transmission of therapy data to KCI.
• Engagement: A highly trained team of KCI Virtual Therapy Specialists (VTS) analyze the data and interact directly with patients and healthcare professionals to support adherence.
• Adherence: 73% of patients demonstrated an increase in hours of NPWT use per day following an adherence call from a Virtual Therapy Specialist. A lower average 90-day wound-related cost was associated with those receiving remote therapy monitoring.¹

The agreement is the first-of-its-kind for negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) and creates a performance-based payment structure for reducing total wound care costs. The partnership is a result of a diligent evaluation process by Highmark to understand how the iOn PROGRESS™ Remote Therapy Monitoring Program impacts its members in alignment with their commitment to improve quality while lowering total cost of care …. read more

Medical products and technologies company ConvaTec has welcomed the government’s support for the wound care industry as part of the Life Sciences Sector Deal, and has outlined its own objectives to supporting the government’s actions.

The company has been working with the Association of British HealthTech Industries, healthcare providers and UK academia to identify ways of improving patient outcomes and maximise financial efficiency in the wound care industry. This will include the use of new digital clinical decision support tools to try and support health professionals and patients.

Simon Whitfield, vice president & UK general manager of ConvaTec said: “We are proud to be contributing to the Wound Care Sector Deal, which brings key stakeholders across the NHS, government and industry together to reduce variation in wound assessments and deliver better outcomes for patients and healthcare professionals … read more

     an Innovative Treatment for Diabetic Foot Wound Healing

URGO Group, through its Urgo Medical division, received the Prix Galien France 2018 in the medical device category for UrgoStart®, the first dressing to have demonstrated clinical efficacy in the treatment of chronic wounds, especially in diabetic foot ulcers. This prestigious award recognizes URGO’s work and investment in R&D and its ongoing commitment to innovating for patients.

Urgo Medical: innovation as part of its DNA. URGO Group invests €25 million a year in R&D, in particular on medical technologies related to chronic wound healing.

“The prestigious Prix Galien rewards six years of collective hard work. Our R&D teams have spared no effort in developing the innovative UrgoStart® wound dressing,” said a beaming Hervé Le Lous, Chairman of URGO Group. “Our goal is to enable many more people to heal much faster, which will be a major benefit for patients, doctors and nurses, and society as a whole.”

UrgoStart®: a breakthrough in diabetic foot wound healing

With close to 425 million people affected worldwide, diabetes has become an epidemic that is growing steadily [1]. Nearly one out of every four patients with diabetes will suffer from a diabetic foot ulcer at least once in their lifetime[2].

Such wounds are also a major risk of infection which can lead to amputation and even death.

With one amputation carried out every 20 seconds, diabetes is the world’s leading cause of amputation[2]. In light of this finding, Urgo Medical launched the Explorer clinical study[3] in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK, with the outcomes published in March 2018 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. The results demonstrated the efficacy of UrgoStart® which led to a 60% increase in wound closure compared with standard care and reduced wound closure time by 60 days from an average period of 180 days.

The first dressing to be deemed a local treatment, UrgoStart® is a French innovation recognized at the international level and now honoured by the Prix Galien.

URGO Group: https://www.urgo-group.com/

Prix Galien France: https://www.prixgalien.fr/

1. International Diabetes Federation. IDF Diabetes atlas. 8th ed. 2017. Brussels: International, International Diabetes Federation https://www.idf.org/e-library/epidemiology-research/diabestes-atlas.html

2. Whiting, D. R., Guariguata, L., Weil, C., and Shax, J. 23011. “IDF Diabetes Atlas: Global Estimates of the Prevalence of Diabetes for 2011 and 2030.” Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 94 (3):311-21

3. Michael Edmonds, José Luis Lázaro-Martínez, Jesus Manuel Alfayate-García, Jacques Martini, Jean-Michel Petit, Gerry Rayman, Ralf Lobmann, Luigi Uccioli, Anne Sauvadet, Serge Bohbot, Jean-Charles Kerihuel, Alberto Piaggesi. Sucrose octasulfate dressing versus control dressing in patients with neuroischaemic diabetic foot ulcers (Explorer): an international, multicentre, double-blind, randomised, controlled trial. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2018;6 (3) :186-196

Press release from PR Newswire

     to Skin Temperature Monitoring in Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR)

— Paper details results of first at-home, continuous, wireless temperature monitoring system to detect onset of diabetic foot ulcers caused by neuropathy

— Temperatures measured by standalone sensors were within 0.2℃ of the reference standard

–Data demonstrates potential as promising approach for early warning of foot ulcers, Charcot foot, and re-ulceration

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Siren, the health technology company that developed Neurofabric™, a machine-washable, machine-dryable smart textile with built-in sensors, today announced publication of a foundational paper supporting its approach in Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), the leading peer-reviewed journal for digital medicine, and health & healthcare in the Internet age. In the paper, a team of international researchers led by Ran Ma, co-founder and CEO, and Alexander M Reyzelman, DPM; Samuel Merritt University, detail the role of Siren’s Diabetic Sock and Foot Monitoring System in maintaining continuous, wireless skin temperature monitoring for users at-home, demonstrating the potential for the reduction of foot ulceration for diabetic patients.

“Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) result in considerable cost to the healthcare system when immediate ulcers, social services, home care, and subsequent ulcers are taken into consideration,” said Alexander M Reyzelman, DPM; Samuel Merritt University and lead author on the paper. “The cost per ulcer is over $33,000 per year and the cost per leg amputation is more than $100,000 per year. Over 100,000 legs are lost to diabetes each year. In diabetic foot complications such as foot ulcers, elevated temperatures in regions of the foot have been shown to be a precursor for ulceration.”

The JMIR publication details Siren’s pilot study of its Diabetic Sock and Foot Monitoring System to assess how comfortable their sensor-embedded socks were for daily use, and whether observed temperatures correlated with clinical observations.

In the study, patients wore the socks at home for a median of 7 hours, reporting that they felt just like their normal, everyday socks. Their stated willingness to wear the socks every day underscores the socks’ suitability for home use, suggesting that Neurofabric can seamlessly integrate into the life of the wearer.

“Several tools have been developed to measure plantar temperatures and the progression of foot ulcers, but they only measure temperature once a day which can lead to false-positives, or are only available for in-clinic use and not at home,” said Ran Ma, co-founder and CEO of Siren. “Now, for the first time, we highlight the striking connection between our Neurofabric’s powerful ability to capture data at home, every single second. The data is incredibly meaningful—it’s the largest amount of patient data that physicians have had wireless access to in real-time. This solidifies the potential for Neurofabric to change the trajectory of diabetic foot ulcerations and the many complications that can occur from it—including sepsis, and lower limb amputations.”

Patients also reported that Siren’s mobile app was easy to use and navigate. Through the mobile app, wearers can view the current temperature as measured at six points on the user’s foot. While the app was not set up to generate alerts in this study, users can receive a notification on their phone when a temperature increase is detected between contralateral positions.

“Digital health is a vast and burgeoning field and spans several aspects of health management—Neurofabric can facilitate the management of chronic conditions at home, including the effective and timely management of DFUs,” said Henk Jan Scholten, co-founder and COO of Siren. “The JMIR publication sheds light on both the ability of these Neurofabrics to improve quality of life for diabetes patients, and Siren’s first use-case to empowering people to take their health into their own hands.”

Siren is initiating a large-scale patient study in 2019.

Read the JMIR paper in full here: Continuous Temperature-Monitoring Socks for Home Use in Patients With Diabetes: Observational Study

About Siren

Founded in August 2016, Siren is a health technology company and the maker of Neurofabric™, machine-washable, machine-dryable smart textiles. Siren’s first product, Siren Diabetic Socks, are designed to help people with diabetes avoid amputations. Siren was previously named AARP Consumer’s Choice Award winner, 2017 CES TechCrunch Hardware Battlefield, 2018 CES Best of Innovation, Fast Co.’s 2018 Innovation by Design Award Honorable Mention, and 2018 ADA Healthtech Showcase winner. Siren’s investors include DCM, Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund.

press release from BusinessWire

SHOREVIEW, Minn., and TORONTO, On, Nov 30 2018. Maxwell Healthcare Associates (MHA), a post-acute operational, financial, technological and regulatory consulting firm, today announced Swift Skin and Wound as its exclusive digital wound care management solution of choice for MHA home health clients.

The partnership comes just a few weeks before the January 2019 rollout of new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services rules surrounding pressure ulcer prevention and management.

“At Maxwell we believe technology is key to not only surviving but thriving amid constant regulatory changes and reimbursement cuts,” said MHA CEO Tom Maxwell. “We began searching for a wound care technology for our clients and found it in Swift. More than 1,000 facilities are already successfully leveraging Swift Skin and Wound for better clinical outcomes. It’s the only one with a home health-specific focus build that allows home health clinicians to document in and out of the home.”

 

Swift Skin and Wound significantly improves clinical and administrative wound care management workflows through: the Swift app, which captures wound care information as easily as taking a picture; the Swift HealX, an FDA-registered adhesive marker applied to calibrate wound images for size, color and lighting; and Swift Dashboards that display real-time healing and treatment to help clinicians and administrators identify risks immediately and improve care … read more

A record 169 people a week are having to undergo an amputation procedure as a result of diabetes, a study has found.

Analysis by the charity Diabetes UK found that 26,378 people had lower limb amputations linked to diabetes between 2014 and 2017, a 19.4% rise from 2010 to 2013. Unhealed ulcers and foot infections are the main cause of diabetes-related amputations. Diabetes affects almost 3.7 million people in the UK … read more

Demonstrated Substantial Clinical and Cost Benefits in Case Series Presented at Cleveland Clinic Accredited VEITH Symposium

SAN ANTONIO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tissue Regenix Group (AIM:TRX) (“Tissue Regenix” or “The Group”), a regenerative medical devices company, recently shared findings from a case series that concluded DermaPure, a decellularized human dermis product, was more cost effective, prompted faster healing times and improved quality of life versus other available options.

Undertaken by David Naar, MD, founder of Premier Vein Clinic, LLC. in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic, the case series was shared at the 45th annual VEITH symposium and included six patients presenting with acute or chronic wounds, including necrotizing fasciitis and venous leg ulcers. Through the retrospective and prospective collection of data, the investigation showed a 65% mean surface area reduction in wound size at six weeks following an average of 1 DermaPure application per patient. One patient in the series, presented with a wound duration of over 10 years and had previously failed with multiple different graft options. Dr. Naar therefore concluded that DermaPure offers a significant health economic benefit to both patients and physicians in addition to its proven clinical advantage over current standard treatments … read more

     Tissue Products for the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers

In its recently released research compendium Diagnosis and Management of Diabetic Foot Complications, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) provides a comprehensive overview of the latest approaches for the manage- ment and treatment of DFUs and their complications. Produced by leading international DFU authorities, the compendium includes information about the use of adjunctive therapies, such as hyperbaric oxygen and negative pressure wound therapy, in instances in which DFUs do not respond to standard treatment.⁵ Among the treatments highlighted in the compendium that garnered the most attention were advanced cellular tissue products (CTPs). These are bioengineered cell-based therapies that supply the wound with the cells, tissues, proteins, and growth factors needed to support the healing process … read more (registration required)

and Sheffield Collaboratorium for Antimicrobial Resistance and Biofilms Awarded NBIC Grant to Advance Development of Neem’s First-in-Class Treatments for Wound Infections

Neem Biotech, a company focused on developing novel solutions to address antimicrobial resistance, together with the Welsh Wound Innovation Centre and Sheffield Collaboratorium for Antimicrobial Resistance and Biofilms (SCARAB) announced today the receipt of a £50,000 inaugural National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) Proof of Concept grant. This inaugural grant has been awarded to expand the development and testing of effective anti-biofilm interventions, in this case based on the pioneering research conducted by Neem Biotech. Biofilms are formed by many bacteria as a protective mechanisms for colonies of bacteria in a range of metabolic states. In humans, biofilms protect bacteria from the human immune system and antibiotics and also exude virulence factors which allow the colonies of bacteria to invade local tissues and spread infection. Products that inhibit the spread of infection in biofilms are called quorum sensing inhibitors.

Specifically, the collaborators will expand data on the biological activity of Neem’s candidate compounds for managing bacterial infections in wounds. The research is aimed at advancing rational drug design and accelerating translation of basic research into the clinic …. read more

Onduo, a Verily-Sanofi joint venture focused on digitally-driven diabetes management, is looking to further protect its members from foot ulcers and limb loss. Orpyx Medical Technologies’ diabetic foot ulcer sensors for its members.

Thanks to a newly announced deal struck between the companies, Orpyx Medical Technologies’ FDA-cleared SurroSense Rx system will be available to “select members” of Onduo’s diabetes management program in 2019. The system consists of a thin sensor that is placed in a patient’s shoes and a wirelessly connected smartwatch, which displays readings and alerts to the user when dangerous pressure levels are detected.

“Orpyx helps people with diabetes to prevent foot ulcers by providing insight that protects foot health and mobility and reduces the risk of complications that can lead to limb loss,” Breanne Everett, CEO of Orpyx Medical Technologies, said in a statement. “We are pleased to extend access to our foot sensor technology to the Onduo member community and to invite Orpyx US patients to take advantage of Onduo services.” … read more

     quality and cost implications

Adults with a new principal DPN diagnosis were categorized as initially untreated if they had no newly initiated DPNrelated medication within the fi rst 14 days after diagnosis. Bivariate logistic regression evaluated predictors for newly initiating medication versus being initially untreated. Multinomial logistic regression evaluated predictors for each medication category (antidepressants, anticonvulsants, or multiple medications versus opioids) … read more

Lower-limb amputations may be rising in the United States after decades of decline, according to data published in Diabetes Care, the official journal of the American Diabetes Association.

The study, which evaluated hospitalization rates for nontraumatic lower extremity amputation in the years 2000 to 2015 using data from the National Health Interview Survey, evaluated estimates for populations with and without diabetes.

Poorly controlled blood sugar that occurs in diabetes can limit blood flow to the lower legs and toes, causing nerve damage that people with the disease may not sense until problems have already developed. People with advanced diabetes may develop wounds or sores that do not heal and eventually result in loss of the damaged toe or portion of the foot or leg … read more

Using a growth factor produced naturally by the human body—and used in spinal-fusion surgeries—scientists from the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have coaxed “leftover” cells from the pancreas to morph into insulin-producing islet cells. In a study set for publication in the December issue of the journal Diabetes, the reprogrammed cells churned out about as much insulin as healthy human islet cells.

Using BMP-7, the research team induced islet-like clusters from the exocrine cells as shown by several markers, including insulin expression (green, top left) and C-peptide (red, top right). C-peptide is a by-product of insulin expression by the cells and is used to demonstrate the production of natural insulin as opposed to the possibility that cells are simply absorbing insulin from the culture medium. Additionally, the reprogrammed cells show the expression of PDX1, a key marker of beta cell function (red, bottom right).Transplanted into lab mice and rats, the new islets released their blood sugar-lowering hormone in response to increases in blood glucose levels—just like the real thing. “That’s the hallmark of functioning islet cells, the ability to sense and respond to blood glucose levels,” notes the study’s co-lead investigator Juan Dominguez-Bendala, Ph.D., director of stem cell development for translational research at the DRI … read more

Well September has passed but this is a wealth of information on DFUs from WoundSource:

As part of the WoundSource Practice Accelerator series, we present the following education on a variety of topics related to the assessment, management and prevention of diabetic foot ulcers.

A smart dressing that uses blue-light therapy for wound healing and which can also monitor and treat infections has been developed by an EU-funded consortium … Blue light is already known for its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, but now the EU-funded MEDILIGHT consortium has harnessed it to aid the healing of chronic wounds such as those suffered by patients with diabetes … “The aim is to have a non-chemical solution for chronic wounds,” says project coordinator Dionysios Manessis of the System Integration and Interconnection Technologies Department, Technical University Berlin. “We found that blue light originally thought to be good for disinfection also produces good results for proliferation of keratinocytes and fibroblasts—the types of skin cells needed for wound closure.” … With EUR 3 million of EU funding for just over three years, the research team was able to produce a smart wearable device from scratch. The prototype consists of a soft, flexible foil with blue LEDs (light emitting diodes) and sensors. This is inserted into a transparent pocket over the wound dressing … read more

HMP, a leader in healthcare events and education, today announced the launch of the Post-Acute Care Symposium (PACS). The meeting will take place May 9–10, 2019, and will be co-located with the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Spring/Wound Healing Society meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

PACS is uniquely designed to provide nurses with the important tools they need through a curriculum that focuses on practical, evidence-based strategies for implementing clinical practice guidelines, protocols, and care pathways for wound and incontinence interventions. The PACS Steering Committee is comprised of many of the same experts who guide the programming for the established SAWC Spring and Fall meetings.

“With the post-acute care setting now central to our healthcare delivery system, the time has come to provide a practical conference for nursing professionals that focuses on the day-to-day realities of patients with wound and incontinence issues,” said Catherine T. Milne, MSN, APRN, CWOCN-AP, Advanced Practice Nurse and Co-Chair for the meeting.

The two-day event, expected to draw approximately 250 nursing professionals, will provide a unique experience for attendees. The meeting will include a curriculum based on the nursing process method, interactive panel and case-based discussion, and “Rapid-Fire” and “Ask the Experts” sessions led by a diverse faculty that includes post-acute care educators with broad experience and practical insight. Attendees will have the opportunity to earn up to 10 CNE credits.

By co-locating the meeting with SAWC Spring, PACS attendees will also gain access to the world’s largest wound care exhibit hall and networking receptions as part of their registration.

“HMP saw an unmet need in the marketplace,” said Peter Norris, Executive Vice President, HMP. “The idea for PACS came in light of statistics showing the majority of wounds in the U.S. are being treated within the post-acute care setting by skilled nursing facility (SNF), home health (HH), and hospice providers. The educational agenda aims to provide post-acute care nursing professionals with real-world tools and strategies fit for the setting in which they care for patients on a daily basis.”

To learn more about the meeting, visit pacsymposium.com.

About HMP
HMP is the force behind Healthcare Made Practical—and is a multichannel leader in healthcare events and education, with a mission to improve patient care. The company produces accredited medical education events and clinically relevant, evidence-based content for the global healthcare community across a range of therapeutic areas. Its brands include Consultant360, the year-round, award-winning platform relied upon by healthcare providers across 21 specialties; Psych Congress, the largest independent mental health meeting in the U.S.; EMS World Expo, the world’s largest EMS-dedicated event; and the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC), the largest wound care meeting in the world. For more information, visit hmpglobal.com.

originally posted in PR WEB

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – More than 5.7 million Americans suffer from chronic wounds that won’t heal. Now, a new, easy to use treatment some are calling a “magic powder” is helping patients heal much faster.

Plastic surgeon Tracey Stokes, MD, FACS, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon is used to being in the operating room, but not as a patient.

“I underwent bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction,” said Dr. Stokes.

Dr. Stokes made the decision after she and her mother tested positive for the gene that causes breast cancer. Unfortunately, she developed a wound on her left breast that would not heal.

“I think in today’s day and age wound care and wound care problems have almost become an epidemic,” said Laura Sudarsky, MD, FACS, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon & Wound Care Specialist at Esse Plastic Surgery … read more

By Portia Wofford

Have you ever been the first to achieve a great feat? Do you remember all the naysayers and those “encouraging” you to pursue other avenues? The self-doubt, that nagging lump at the bottom of your throat, the second-guessing you plagued yourself with? Despite it all, you kept swimming and here you are, a badass!

I thought of these things when I met Cheryl Carver or as her friends and colleagues call her- ‘WOuNder WOMAN!’ Cheryl is a nationally renowned wound care specialist and expert, published writer, educator, and LPN!

Life Doesn’t Always Go As Planned

Cheryl’s nursing career began when she served in the Army, while stationed in Germany. She received a life-changing phone call that her mother had a stroke. She rushed home to be her mother’s caregiver. After a year, her mother died in Cheryl’s arms due to complications of diabetes and pressure ulcers/osteomyelitis/sepsis … read more

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines social determinants of health as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, that shape health. These factors include characteristics such as socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment and social support networks. Surprisingly, these social and environmental conditions account for 80 percent of health outcomes while only 20 percent are the result of care delivery.

“Over the next year, we will release a series of findings based on surveys of clinicians, interviews with patients and secondary data analysis,” said Hanna Gordon, PhD, Healogics Executive Director, Research and Informatics. “Our goal is to ensure that all patients can access high quality care and heal their chronic ulcers. We will begin our series with an introduction to the social determinants and how they impact health outcomes, followed by the findings of a survey on clinician perspectives on social barriers to care, and original research on the sociogeographic patterning of chronic wounds.”

Chronic wound patients face a number of challenges to their health and well-being. The presence of ulcers is an indication of broader physical systems failures. However, with education, many wounds could be prevented or treated when they are less severe resulting in improved outcomes. The association between chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and social conditions is well established, yet none of the previous studies have addressed chronic ulcers. Healogics Wound Science Initiative is partnering with hospitals … read more

Chronic skin wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers, pressure wounds and other chronic skin wounds affect more than 6 million people in the U.S. alone, with the cost of treatments mounting to $25 billion each year. The current standard of care requires removing a small piece of the wound tissue for laboratory analysis under a microscope, but disturbing tissue around the wound can be disruptive to the healing process.

Recognizing a lack of non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers to monitor such wounds, University of Arkansas Optical redox ratio of the wound edge changes over time. In vivo redox ratio maps of FAD/(NADH+FAD) were generated from the normalized fluorescence intensities. Source: University of Arkansasresearchers have identified a biomarker to track changes in cellular metabolism as wounds transition through the healing process. The group applied multiphoton microscopy to acquire a 3D image of wound structure and its metabolism … read more

     to delivering patient-focused foot care services: A qualitative descriptive study.

A qualitative descriptive study design was used (Sandelowski, 2000). Participants were health-care professionals providing foot care, foot wear, and wound care services in a Canadian province. Professionals voluntarily completed 48 open-ended surveys. Survey data was thematically analyzed to identify meaning and leading themes (nVivo10). The lead researcher kept field notes to support auditability and trustworthiness. Ethical approval was from the Research Ethics Board at St. Lawrence College, Cornwall, Ontario. Informed participant consent was obtained. Workshop attendees did not have to participate, and they did not have to return the survey if they did not choose to do so … read more

    at Innovations in Wound Healing Conference

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — PolarityTE, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTE), a commercial stage biotechnology company focused on transforming the lives of patients by discovering, designing and developing a range of regenerative tissue products and biomaterials for the fields of medicine, biomedical engineering and material sciences, announced today that it will present SkinTE™ clinical outcomes at the Innovations in Wound Healing Conference held in Key West, FL December 6-9, 2018.

During a presentation entitled, Regeneration of Functional Skin, Stephen Milner, MD, DDS, DSc, FRCSE, FACS and Chief Clinical Officer of PolarityTE, who practiced medicine for more than 20 years and served as former Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and former Director of Johns Hopkins Burn Center, will discuss SkinTE clinical outcomes data. Dr. Milner will highlight utilization of the autologous SkinTE cell-tissue product in chronic, burn and acute traumatic wounds. The presentation is scheduled during Scientific Session 8 on Sunday, December 9, 2018.

This unique conference is led by a group of experienced educators, scientists and clinicians interested in communicating new approaches to the repair of tissues throughout the human body. The program will focus on the science of tissue repair, the implementation of new findings and the exchange of the latest advances and thinking in the field. Participants, who include clinicians, developers, students and scientists from government, academia and industry, all share an interest in innovative ideas and novel therapies of tissue regeneration and the treatment of chronic wounds. Attendees come from the country’s foremost academic institutions and high-volume medical centers and include notable individuals from the wound care field like leaders from the nation’s largest provider of advanced wound healing services … read more

     of Chronic Lower Extremity Wounds: A Case Series

This case series evaluates the outcomes of persons with chronic lower extremity wounds treated with an esterified hyaluronic acid matrix (EHAM). Materials and Methods.Data were abstracted from 12 consecutive patients with a total of 14 evaluated chronic wounds (12 [100%] men, mean age 58.72 years) presenting for care at a multidisciplinary wound care center. Nine of the 12 patients had diabetes. The mean wound duration was 39.2 weeks. All patients received surgical wound debridement and were started on therapy consisting of weekly to biweekly applications of the EHAM with a nonadherent, moisture-retentive dressing until complete epithelialization was achieved. Outcomes evaluated included time to complete wound closure and proportion of patients achieving wound closure in 20 weeks. Results. In total, 85.7% of wounds measuring a mean of 2.32 cm²healed in the 20-week evaluation period … read more

They’re less frequent than diabetic ulcers, but how concerned should we be about arterial ulcers (ischemic ulcers)?… Atherosclerosis is the major cause of peripheral arterial disease. This reduces the arterial blood flow to the lower extremities. The lumen of the arteries become occluded and the extremity becomes ischemic. Most ulcers develop due to a traumatic event to the ischemic leg or foot. However, skin breakdown can occur spontaneously … Risk factors for arterial ulcers include hyperlipidemia, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, advanced age and post trauma to the foot or leg … Arterial ulcers are usually located on the top of the toes, over the phalangeal heads … read more

Editors Note: This article starts by claiming that “15% of 425 million people in the U.S. living with diabetes develop foot ulcers”. So ….

15% of the 425 million people in the U.S. living with diabetes develop foot ulcers. This is called diabetic foot ulcers, and it is said to increase the risk of death on a person by up to 2.5 times. Treating the ulcer with current means takes around 120 days … Now, with a nitric oxide-releasing technology, a team of biometric engineers say they can reduce the healing time of this diabetic foot ulcer by 99 days – that is from 120 to only 21 days … In the quest to lower these expenses, experts from Michigan Technological University have created what they call a nitric oxide-laden bandage that monitors, adjusts and releases the chemical, based on the need or depending on the state of the cells … To arrive at that, they first investigated what goes inside the skin cells when nitric oxide was introduced. In this case, the focus was on dermal fibroblast cells, which they analyzed on both normal and diabetic human cells … read more

     to diagnose, monitor chronic wounds

A team of NIH-funded researchers at the University of Arkansas have demonstrated the novel use of multiphoton microscopy to monitor wound healing in live animals. The scientists measured metabolic changes that occur during healing at the wounds’ surface using autofluorescence imaging. In the future, doctors could use the images to non-invasively diagnose the type of chronic wound and determine the best treatment strategy.

Chronic skin wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers and pressure wounds affect more than 6 million people in the United States, with the cost of treatments mounting to $25 billion each year … read more

In this new video series, TWC editorial advisory board member Kathleen D. Schaum, MS, shares eight poignant reimbursement tips for today’s outpatient wound care clinics.

Tip No. 1: Research
Tip No. 2: Learn Payment Systems
Tip No. 3: Itemizing 
Tip No. 4: Identify Pertinent Codes
Tip No. 5: Establish Appropriate Charges
Tip No. 6: NCDs, LCDs, Payer Contracts & Medical Policies
Tip No. 7: Insurance Benefits & Coverage Verification 
Tip No. 8: Auditing Claims

A new, low-cost wound dressing developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers could dramatically speed up healing in a surprising way … The method leverages energy generated from a patient’s own body motions to apply gentle electrical pulses at the site of an injury … In rodent tests, the dressings reduced healing times to a mere three days compared to nearly two weeks for the normal healing process …”We were surprised to see such a fast recovery rate,” says Xudong Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering at UW-Madison … “We suspected that the devices would produce some effect, but the magnitude was much more than we expected” … Wang and collaborators described their wound dressing method today (Nov … 29, 2018) in the journal ACS Nano … read more

     Highlighting Latest Treatments for Diabetic Foot Ulcers

CANTON, Mass., Nov. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Organogenesis Inc., a leading regenerative medicine company committed to empowering healing, is proud to support the American Diabetes Association (ADA)’s publication of a new scientific compendium reviewing the latest methods for diagnosing and treating diabetic foot complications.

“We are proud to support the production of the compendium, which will be an invaluable resource for both clinicians and patients,” said Shabnam Vaezzadeh, Vice President of Global Medical & Clinical Affairs for Organogenesis. “Diabetic foot ulcers represent a significant and ongoing public health challenge and we applaud the ADA for this rigorous, independent and timely review of evidence-based interventions.”

The ADA compendium, Diagnosis and Management of Diabetic Foot Complications, is a comprehensive review of the latest scientific evidence related to the treatment of DFUs, including best practices for early screening and diagnosis, prevention strategies, and wound care and treatment options. The content for the compendium was developed by a respected team of independent researchers and clinicians and is solely the responsibility of the ADA and ADA leadership.

DFUs are the leading cause of diabetes-related amputations in the United States. Nearly 100,000 non-traumatic amputations are performed each year, a number which includes 1 in 6 patients with a DFU, according to the ADA. Proper foot care and access to advanced wound care treatment options are critical to prevent amputation or premature death due to diabetic foot ulcers.

from Cision PR Newswire

     a national observational study

Diabetic foot ulcers and amputations are devastating and much feared complications of diabetes. Between 15% and 34% of people with diabetes develop a foot ulcer during their lifetime, with more than half acquiring infections that may result in lower extremity amputations causing disability, extensive periods of hospitalisation, and premature mortality. The incidence of major amputation ranges from 0·2 to 2·0 per 1000 people in those with diabetes [4, 5]. Major or minor amputation also increases the risk of additional subsequent amputations [6]. Foot ulcers are the costliest microvascular complication of diabetes …Amputations in people with diabetes have a significant impact on ambulation, body care, movement and mobility, resulting in an inability to perform daily tasks and often a loss of employment [6] impacting on the wider family. Clinical epidemiology studies suggest that foot ulcers precede around 85% of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations in individuals with diabetes and hence ulcer prevention is important. Previous studies have reported that apart from severity of ulcer … read more

Diabetic ulcers commonly result from high blood sugar damaging nerves, which takes away feeling from the toes or feet … Without the ability to feel pain, hits and bumps tend to go unnoticed and skin tissue breaks down, forming ulcers … A lot of sugar in the bloodstream, along with dried skin as a consequence of diabetes, further slow the ulcer healing process … Recently, Purdue researchers developed a shoe insole that could help make the healing process more portable for the 15% of Americans who develop ulcers as a result of diabetes … The researchers used lasers to shape silicone-based rubber into insoles, and then create reservoirs that release oxygen only at the part of the foot where the ulcer is located … read more

There is a robust evidence base to support the use of compression therapy for healing venous leg ulceration and for preventing ulcer recurrence. The most recent version of the Cochrane Review on the effectiveness of compression and the relative effectiveness of different compression systems on venous leg ulcer healing included 48 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) reporting 59 comparisons. Although the methodological quality of the evidence is variable, there is overwhelming evidence that multi-layer high compression systems greatly increase the chances of healing compared to no compression. A more recent review and update of the evidence came to the same conclusion. Similarly, although there is very little evidence on the use of compression to prevent recurrence of venous ulcers, the overwhelming evidence of effectiveness for healing makes it highly likely that compression is also highly effective at preventing recurrence … read more

Israeli companies are tackling medical issues that are impacting people across the world, and diabetes is one of the key areas that these companies are tackling. Improved approaches, treatments and management are helping these companies transform diabetes across the world … A chronic disease of the pancreas, diabetes occurs when a person cannot make enough insulin to regulate their blood sugar … Betalin Therapeutics, a startup, is leading the way for diabetic treatment advancement. The company, still a relatively young company, has been able to cure type-1 diabetes in mice. And while the transition from mice to humans is drastically different, the company hopes that they’ll be able to one day cure humans of diabetes … read more

This Quick Guide outlines the use of IODOSORB as part of a biofilm-based wound care approach and provides helpful tips for it’s implementation in practice … download pdf

University of Toronto researchers have developed a handheld 3-D skin printer that deposits even layers of skin tissue to cover and heal deep wounds. The team believes it to be the first device that forms tissue in situ, depositing and setting in place, within two minutes or less … The research, led by Ph.D. student Navid Hakimi under the supervision of Associate Professor Axel Guenther of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and in collaboration with Dr. Marc Jeschke, director of the Ross Tilley Burn Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital and professor of immunology at the Faculty of Medicine, was recently published in the journal Lab on a Chip … read more

     Coordination Chemistry for Wound Healing

Biomaterial‐based regenerative approaches would allow for cost‐effective off‐the‐shelf solution for the treatment of wounds. Hyaluronan (HA)‐based hydrogel is one attractive biomaterial candidate because it is involved in natural healing processes, including inflammation, granulation, and reepithelialization. Herein, dynamic metal–ligand coordination bonds are used to fabricate moldable supramolecular HA hydrogels with self‐healing properties. To achieve reversible crosslinking of HA chains, the biopolymer is modified with pendant bisphosphonate (BP) ligands using carbodiimide coupling and chemoselective “click” reactions. Hydrogel is formed immediately after simple addition of silver (Ag+) ions to the solution of HA containing BP groups (HA‐BP). Compared with previous HA‐based wound healing hydrogels, the HA‐BP·Ag+ hydrogel is highly suitable for clinical use as it can fill irregularly shaped wound defects without the need for premolding. The HA‐BP·Ag+ hydrogel shows antimicrobial properties to both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacterial strains, enabling prevention of infections in wound care. In vivo evaluation using a rat full‐thickness skin wound model shows significantly lower wound remaining rate and a thicker layer of regenerated epidermis as compared with the group left without treatment. The presented moldable and self‐healing supramolecular HA hydrogel with “ready‐to‐use” properties possesses a great potential for regenerative wound treatment … read more

The new Nexodyn AOS wound care solution, cleared for sale by the FDA, is now starting to be available in the USA, promoted and commercialized by the Italian pharmaceutical company Angelini, as a result of an exclusive partnership with the Swiss company APR Applied Pharma Research, the owner and developer of the proprietary, patented technology TEHCLO, for the production of acidic super-oxidizing solutions … Nexodyn helps cleanse and moisten the wound environment by removing dirt, debris and foreign material by flushing across the wound … Nexodyn is intended for use, under the supervision of healthcare professionals, to treat acute and chronic dermal lesions (such as leg ulcers, post-surgical wounds or 1st and 2nd degree burns) and minor cuts, burns, skin irritations and superficial abrasions … The solution, characterized by an acidic pH between 2 … 5 and 3 … 0, has cell viability preservation features, so as not to negatively interfere with the natural physiological healing process and epthelialization … Its antimicrobial preservative effectiveness has been demonstrated by in vitro testing … read more

     Diabetic Patients With a Foot Ulcer

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of foot exercises on wound healing in type 2 diabetic patients with a diabetic foot ulcer … Sixty-five patients from an outpatient clinic with grade 1 or 2 ulcers (Wagner classification) who met study criteria agreed to participate; 60 patients completed the study and were included in the final analysis … Subjects were followed up between February 2014 and June 2015 … Subjects were recruited by the researchers in the clinics where they received treatment … Subjects were randomly allocated to either the control or intervention group … Data were collected using investigator-developed forms: patient information form and the diabetic foot exercises log … Patients in the intervention group received standard wound care and performed daily foot exercises for 12 weeks; the control group received standard wound care but no exercises … The ulcers of the patients in both the intervention and control groups were examined and measured at the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks … The groups were compared in terms of the ulcer size and depth … To analyze and compare the data, frequency distribution, mean (standard deviation), variance analysis, and the independent samples t test and the χ test were used … read more

Although we’ve already heard about hydrogels that help to heal chronic wounds, the University of New Hampshire’s Asst … Prof … Kyung Jae Jeong states that most of them have a shortcoming – they’re not porous enough … An inexpensive micro-hole-filled gel made by his team, however, is claimed to perform much better … The idea behind most hydrogels is that they get applied to “difficult” wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers, either being injected into them or put on as a dressing … The gels then create a form-fitting matrix across the surface of those injuries, promoting healing by keeping the wounds moist, preventing bacteria from entering them, and in some cases releasing medication … According to Jeong, though, cells from adjacent tissue often have difficulty growing through these relatively non-porous hydrogels and into the wound, resulting in a slow healing process … read more

Non-invasive, local treatment of digital ulcers with ozone for 20 days showed clinical effectiveness in systemic sclerosis patients, according to a new study …The study, “Non-invasive Oxygen-Ozone Therapy in Treating Digital Ulcers of Patients with Systemic Sclerosis,” was published in the journal Acta Reumatológica Portuguesa, and was conducted by researchers at Asyut University and Suez Canal University, in Egypt …Systemic sclerosis (SSc), or systemic scleroderma, is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects connective tissue (the tissue that supports and holds other tissues or organs together), and is characterized by excessive production of collagen protein, leading to fibrosis of the skin and internal organs …Excessive collagen deposition can also narrow small blood vessels in the fingers and toes, resulting in Raynaud’s phenomenon … read more

In this table, we cover the basics of wound care, such as reducing bioburden, reducing edema and maintaining a moist wound environment. This information was gathered from a 2014 article from the journal, Plastic Surgical Nursing, in which Marcia Spear, DNP, ACNP-BC, CWS, CPSN, addressed the “Principles of Wound Care – Back to Basics.” … view pdf

Researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a new approach to diagnosing and monitoring chronic skin wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers and pressure wounds … Chronic skin wounds affect more than 150 million people worldwide and cost approximately $25 billion in health care annually in the United States alone. These non-healing wounds are characterized by inflamed tissue, poor blood circulation, callus formation or infection … Current clinical approaches for diagnosing and monitoring these wounds do not provide critical diagnostic information about how they develop or why they do not heal … read more

Wound healing is impaired in both psoriasis and multiple sclerosis, raising the prospect that a better understanding of the process could improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of these two chronic conditions and generate targets for treating them … The two conditions share a number of characteristics … For example, both diseases demonstrate slight itching, symmetry of the lesions, exacerbation after stopping corticosteroid treatment, and the Koebner phenomenon – provocation of the condition by stress … The Koebner phenomenon (isomorphic response) was first described in 1876 by the German dermatologist Heinrich Koebner who noted that patients developed psoriasis at sites of excoriations, horse bites, and tattoos … Koebner famously saw a psoriatic plaque develop on the skin of a farmer where his horse … read more

You may wonder, “What in the world does this man know about type 2 diabetes (T2D) and toe injuries?” Well, I have had a very lengthy and lived experience with T2D. I was diagnosed 19 years ago, and I was very likely one of the worst patients with T2D ever.

How did I get here? How did it come to this? What is this? This is a problem with my feet that I will battle with for the rest of my life. This is an ongoing wound on my left large toe that a dear friend and I caused nearly 9 years ago that has never completely healed and now causes me to visit the diabetic foot clinic at the local hospital every 2–3 months.

Nearly 8.5 years ago, I did not know that this clinic even existed. I learned this fact, literally, by accident. Actually, it wasn’t an accident; I learned through what some might consider performing a really stupid act … read more

APMA celebrated another major advocacy win today as CMS released the 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule. The final rule did not include the originally proposed podiatry-specific E/M codes, which would have reimbursed at a significantly lower rate than codes for the same care provided by other physicians … APMA extends its sincere gratitude to the thousands of members, colleagues, patients, family, and friends who joined APMA’s grassroots campaign and submitted comments to CMS about this punitive proposal. We also thank our allies at other medical societies and in the halls of Congress, who strongly opposed the proposed rule.“Today we saw proof that when APMA members work together … toward a common goal, we can do great things,” said APMA President Dennis R. Frisch, DPM …. read more

DIABETES mellitus is the fifth leading cause of death in The Bahamas, according to Health Minister Dr Duane Sands …The Bahamas Podiatric Medical Association underscored the devastating impact of diabetes on feet during a conference at the University of the Bahamas yesterday …“Foot complications are the source of major patient suffering, high emotion and financial costs to the individual and health care system,” Dr Sands told the conference …“We have seen the prevalence of diabetes increase from 6.7% to 9.2% in 2005 now to epidemic proportions of 13.6% in 2017. 37.9 deaths per 100,000 persons are due to diabetes …Dr Sands continued: “Foot ulcers are the most prevalent problem, with a yearly incidence of around 2 – 4% and a lifetime incidence between 15 and 25%. The most important factors underlying the development of foot ulcers are peripheral sensory neuropathy, foot deformities related to motor neuropathy, minor foot trauma, and peripheral artery disease … “Once the skin is ulcerated, it is susceptible to becoming infected, an urgent medical problem that can result in amputation or even death … read more

A specific class of diabetes medication appears to double the risk of losing a leg or foot to amputation, a new study reports … People on sodium-glucose cotransporter2 (SGLT2) inhibitors were twice as likely to require a lower limb amputation as people taking another type of diabetes medication, Scandinavian researchers found … Patients also had a doubled risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication in which acids called ketones build up in the bloodstream … “Patients at high risk of amputation, for example those with peripheral artery disease or foot ulcers, might be monitored more closely if SGLT2 inhibitors are used, and the risk of this adverse event may be considered when deciding on which drugs to use,” said lead researcher Dr. Peter Ueda, a postdoctoral researcher with Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden … read more

Developed at Indiana’s Purdue University, the prototype two-layered insole is made of polydimethylsiloxane, which is a type of silicone. Its bottom layer is actually a chamber that contains oxygen gas, while the top layer is laser-ablated to be particularly oxygen-permeable right at the point where the ulcer is located … The idea is that as the wearer walks throughout the day, placing pressure upon the insole, oxygen is continuously forced out of the bottom layer, up through the top layer and into the oxygen-deprived tissue of the ulcer – there, it helps accelerate healing. Even when they’re sitting, the patient’s foot will still exert enough pressure to deliver some oxygen to the wound … read more

Valid and reproducible sampling techniques as well as processing protocols are required for the assessment of biomarkers and mediators contained in wound exudate. Moreover, the ideal technique should be easy to use even in daily clinical routine. This is challenging since wound fluid represents an inhomogeneous mixture of different exogenous and endogenous sources. Analyzing wound fluid, however, may facilitate clinical decision making. Many techniques for obtaining wound fluid have been described. There is very little validation data, and the array of different techniques appears confusing. Structuring and new standards are needed to avoid wound fluid sampling yielding an “undefined soup.” A lot of wound fluid parameters have been analyzed, although none of them have made its way into clinical practice. Nevertheless, basic principles of wound healing have been established from wound fluid analysis. With adequate techniques suitable for daily practice, basic research might foster our clinical understanding of wound healing with implications for new therapies. So far, research has mainly concentrated on analyzing available sample material with respect to … read more

Protease modulating therapies are used to assist in venous leg ulcer closure. However, a recent systematic review of the evidence¹ suggests a need to question the biomarker’s importance and further role in the future of targeted chronic wound healing therapies … Earlier research reported in the literature has suggested that reducing protease levels can improve venous leg ulcer healing beyond the use of first-line treatments, such as compression, according to Maggie Westby, Ph.D., research fellow in the School of Health Sciences at the University
of Manchester, UK … read more

Diabetic foot ulcers can take up to 150 days to heal. A biomedical engineering team wants to reduce it to 21 days … They’re planning to drop the healing time by amplifying what the body already does naturally: build layers of new tissue pumped up by nitric oxide. In patients with diabetes, impaired nitric oxide production lessens the healing power of skin cells and the Centers for Disease Control reports that 15 percent of Americans living with type II diabetes struggle with hard-to-heal foot ulcers. However, simply pumping up nitric oxide is not necessarily better. The long-term plan of Michigan Technological University …. read more

Leg ulcers can be caused by vasculitis, pressure sores, inflammatory diseases, traumatic injuries and cutaneous neoplasms―which are often misdiagnosed as skin ulcers, write Lidia Sacchelli and colleagues in the September 19 online issue of the Journal Dermatopathology … “We believe that clinicians should be aware of the importance of an early and correct diagnosis of cutaneous neoplasms underlying chronic leg ulcers. This could avoid diagnostic delay and guarantee the best therapeutic approach to each patient,” they wrote … Lesions that grow, spread or are pigmented may require a biopsy and histologic study … read more

     in diabetes: A national observational study

Diabetic foot ulcers and amputations are devastating and much feared complications of diabetes. Between 15% and 34% of people with diabetes develop a foot ulcer during their lifetime, with more than half acquiring infections that may result in lower extremity amputations causing disability, extensive periods of hospitalisation, and premature mortality. The incidence of major amputation ranges from 0·2 to 2·0 per 1000 people in those with diabetes. Major or minor amputation also increases the risk of additional subsequent amputations. Foot ulcers are the costliest microvascular complication of diabetes … Amputations in people with diabetes have a significant impact on ambulation, body care, movement and mobility, resulting in an inability to perform daily tasks and often a loss of employment impacting on the wider family. Clinical epidemiology studies suggest that foot ulcers precede around 85% of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations in individuals with diabetes [8] and hence ulcer prevention is important. Previous studies have reported that apart from severity of ulcer, age [9], low socioeconomic status, smoking, sex, renal impairment, ischaemic heart disease, diabetic neuropathy, glucose levels and peripheral arterial disease are some of the important factors associated with the risk of amputation. Identifying a person’s risk of foot ulceration helps in directing scarce resources to those most at need. Assessment of individual risk factors … read more

A new screening tool developed by St. Joseph’s Health Care London could reduce the number of diabetes-related amputations across the region … The primary care diabetes support program (PCDSP) at St. Joseph’s partnered with the South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) to come up with a standardized screening, assessment and referral tool for family doctors. The tool helps to identify red flags in patients that could lead to devastating foot ulcers … “The end game is early identification and effective intervention of those at risk of diabetes-related foot ulcers,” said Betty Harvey, a nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist with the PCDSP. “Once a person has a foot ulcer … read more

     of chronic wounds: the EUREKA trial

Fluorescence biomodulation (FB), a form of photobiomodulation (PBM) that is also known as low energy level light (LELL), has become an increasingly used clinical tool to induce wound healing in wounds that remain recalcitrant to treatment. In a real-life clinical setting, the aim of the EUREKA (EvalUation of Real-lifE use of Klox biophotonic system in chronic wound mAnagement) study was to confirm the efficacy and safety of LumiHeal, a system based on FB, in the treatment of chronic wounds such as venous leg ulcers (VLUs), diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and pressure ulcers (PUs). The effects of this FB system on the modulation of wound healing in chronic ulcers through FB induction were previously examined in an interim analysis of this study … read more

Healogics®, the nation’s leading provider of advanced chronic wound care services, today unveiled their Patient Engagement program. Through this program, patients will receive text message reminders for their appointments as well as links to educational videos, relevant articles and instructions related to wound and ostomy care … “Wound care as a specialty relies heavily on patients’ willingness and ability to adhere to their prescribed plan of care,” says Dr. William Ennis, DO, MBA, MMM, Healogics Chief Medical Officer. “By engaging patients where they are, and encouraging appointment attendance, the Patient Engagement program has reduced appointment cancellations supporting care plan adherence.” … The new program has two-way engagement, meaning Healogics team members can see patients’ responses in real time. If a patient has to cancel, a team member will proactively call the patient to reschedule the appointment to avoid any delays in care. During the program’s pilot, Healogics saw an eight percent reduction in appointment cancellations, which means eight percent more people received the life-changing care … read more

    Healthcare Professionals Searchable Access to Clinical Studies and Silverlon Products by Specialty

Argentum Medical, LLC and Cura Surgical launched its new website for its Silverlon® antimicrobial wound care technology (https://www.silverlon.com). The robust website gives surgeons and other healthcare professionals — both in civilian and in military settings — convenient access to the science and clinical research supporting the most evidence-based silver-based dressings available today.

Users of the new Silverlon website can quickly find Silverlon wound care products by specialty, including surgical, wound care, burn, catheter and negative pressure contact dressings. The site includes educational videos to explain the antimicrobial advantage of silver ions as well as instructional videos on the proper use of Silverlon dressings in a number of clinical settings.

The website also features a searchable index of independent, peer-reviewed, clinical studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of Silverlon technology across multiple specialties including surgical, venous catheter, wound and burn care. Recent clinical studies include research conducted by the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the University of South Florida/Tampa General Hospital’s central line catheter-related infection (CLABSI) study published in the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine.

“Our new website is designed to give surgeons and other medical professionals an efficient resource to explore the science and robust body of clinical research supporting the advantages of Silverlon dressings as part of a comprehensive infection prevention bundle,” said Raul Brizuela, president and CEO of Cura Surgical and Argentum Medical … read more

     in diabetes: a national observational study

     in the UK, Denmark, and Sweden: An observer-masked, randomised controlled trial

The LeucoPatch device uses bedside centrifugation without additional reagents to generate a disc comprising autologous leucocytes, platelets, and fibrin, which is applied to the surface of the wound. We aimed to test the effectiveness of LeucoPatch on the healing of hard-to-heal foot ulcers in people with diabetes … This was a multicentre, international, observer-masked, randomised controlled trial of people with diabetes and a hard-to-heal foot ulcer done in 32 specialist diabetic foot clinics in three countries (UK, Denmark, and Sweden). After a 4-week run-in period, those with a reduction in ulcer area of less than 50% were randomly allocated (1:1) by computer-generated, web-based randomisation … read more

Read the full article on The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology

MARIETTA, Ga. /PRNewswire/ —MiMedx (NASDAQ: MDXG), a leading developer and marketer of regenerative and therapeutic biologics, today announced that five poster abstracts reporting on the Company’s EpiFix® dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane (dHACM) allograft and EpiCord® dehydrated human umbilical cord (dHUC) allograft will be presented at the Desert Foot 15th Annual Multi-Disciplinary Limb Salvage Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The conference begins Wednesday, November 7, 2018, and concludes on Saturday, November 10, 2018.

MiMedx will sponsor a symposium entitled, “Clinical Efficacy of EpiFix and AmnioFix dehydrated human amnion/chorion membrane allografts in Surgical and Wound Care Applications” on Wednesday, November 7^th in the Phoenix Ballroom main lecture hall. The symposium faculty and presenters include Ray Ortega, MD, MiMedx Medical Director, and Jeremy Lim, PhD, Senior R&D Engineer at MiMedx.

Dr. Ortega, a former Army Special Forces Officer (Green Beret) and Medical Corps plastic surgeon, will review two recent EpiFix and EpiCord multicenter DFU randomized control trial (RCTs) studies … read more

Diabetic Foot Australia (DFA) was established in 2015 with the goal of ending avoidable amputations within a generation in Australia. As a key initiative of the Wound Management Innovation CRC, we engaged the expertise of multiple partner organisations across Australia to create a national diabetes-related foot disease (DFD) body for Australia. On the 1st July 2018, Diabetic Foot Australia joined the Australian Diabetes Society’s (ADS) stable of national diabetes clinical and research programs …. download Australian Diabetes-Related Foot Disease Strategy (PDF)

EDISON, N.J., Nov. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — MTF Biologics, the world’s largest tissue bank, and Academy Medical, a certified Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) that specializes in providing medical products, tissues and devices to government agencies, have joined forces to bring advanced human allograft tissues to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) medical centers across the country. MTF Biologics has joined Academy Medical’s supplier network, ensuring that MTF Biologics’ portfolio of tissue innovations, used to treat a variety of acute and chronic wounds, orthopedic conditions, and plastic and reconstructive surgery needs, are available to healthcare providers serving veterans at VA facilities.

As a result of this partnership with Academy Medical, MTF Biologics tissues have been added to Academy Medical’s Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC) Biologics and Biological Implants Contract and their National Acquisition Center (NAC) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Together, Academy Medical and MTF Biologics now offer the broadest portfolio of bone, dermis, placenta and other tissues to address the needs of our veterans and military personnel.

“Academy Medical has a great track record of connecting government healthcare providers with medical innovations,” said Thomas Shaffer, Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at MTF Biologics.  “We are excited to partner with the Academy Medical team to bring innovations in tissue transplantation to our nation’s veterans. Our organizations share a commitment to ensuring that physicians have access to the medical advances, tools and technologies they need to meet the needs of their patients. This partnership achieves this commitment while also furthering MTF Biologics’ Mission of saving and healing lives.” … read more

Mӧlnlycke® will launch Mepilex® Border Flex at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care Fall meeting (SAWC Fall) 2-4 November in Las Vegas. The new Mepilex® Border Flex dressing was specifically engineered to support fewer dressing changes, reducing dressing costs and waste, while creating an optimal healing environment.

‘We believe that the Mepilex Border Flex dressing may change the way wound care experts practice because its features effectively support undisturbed wound healing,’ says Randy Schwartz, Vice President of Marketing. ‘Less frequent dressing changes benefit the patient, caregiver and the wound healing process. The product’s unique structure enhances conformability and its exudate management properties and allows it to remain in place for longer wear times. These features will positively impact cost.‘

Mӧlnlycke will feature the dressing in its booth and is sponsoring a complimentary breakfast symposium at the Fall SAWC conference, ‘Novel Technology for Advanced Wound Dressings: Early Clinical Experience.’ The session will examine the role of dressing conformability and exudate management in supporting undisturbed healing of acute and chronic wounds. The presenters will also share their experience with the new dressing and examine its impact on clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and cost savings.

Renowned wound care expert Robert Kirsner, MD, PhD will lead the symposium which features Oscar Alvarez, PhD and Deborah Nelson RN, BSN, CWOCN who will discuss their clinical experience with the product. The symposium will take place on Sunday, 4 November at 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM … read more

     Resource Center and Highlights Latest Wound Care Research at SAWC Fall 2018

CANTON, Mass. and LAS VEGAS, Nov. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Organogenesis Inc., a leading regenerative medicine company committed to empowering healing, will celebrate the launch of the Advancing Healing Education Resource Center, a continuing medical education microsite covering the latest clinical and practical developments in wound healing, as well as showcase the company’s latest product research during the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Fall 2018 meeting held this week in Las Vegas.

Made possible through an educational grant from Organogenesis to the North American Center for Continuing Medical Education (NACCME), the Advancing Healing Education Resource Center will feature accredited educational activities designed to improve the care of patients with repair and regenerative needs across the continuum of care. Topics will include healing of musculoskeletal injuries, including degenerative conditions, and the treatment of chronic and acute wounds … read more

MARIETTA, Ga., Oct. 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — MiMedx Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG), a leading developer and marketer of regenerative and therapeutic biologics, today announced that five poster abstracts highlighting studies on the Company’s EpiFix® dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane (dHACM) allograft and EpiCord® dehydrated human umbilical cord (dHUC) allograft will be presented at the 2018 Symposium on Advanced Wound Care Fall (SAWC Fall) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The SAWC, now in its 31^st year, is the official meeting for members of The Association for the Advancement of Wound Care and the leading national wound healing conference.

The conference begins Friday, November 2^nd and concludes on Sunday, November 4^th. MiMedx will be exhibiting in booth #207 during all booth times throughout the three-day meeting.

MiMedx will also sponsor a Breakfast Symposium entitled, “PURION® Processed Placental Based Allografts – The Use of Bioactive Tissue Matrices in the Treatment of Wounds,” on Friday, November 2^nd, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The presenters during the breakfast symposium will include:

• Michelle Massee, Manager of Biomedical Research, MiMedx
• William Tettelbach, MD, Associate Chief Medical Officer, MiMedx
• James Stavosky, DPM

read more

     Combining 17 Years of Clinical Data With AI and 3D Imaging to Improve Patient Outcomes

BALTIMORE, Oct. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Wound Care Advantage, a leading provider of management and consulting services for outpatient wound care and hyperbaric medicine programs, today announced a partnership with Tissue Analytics, the world’s leading mobile imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) platform for wound management. The partnership allows for WCA to leverage its clinical expertise and 17 years of clinical data with Tissue Analytics’ imaging and AI to improve the accuracy of measurement during wound assessments and provide better insights into the efficacy of wound treatments to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs … Chronic wounds affect about 6.5 million people in the U.S., many stemming from diabetes and/or vascular insufficiency. These wounds have a slow healing process and require frequent monitoring and measurement of progress by a specialized wound care team. Research has shown that automatic smartphone measurements help to eliminate the high degree of interrater and intrarater reliability often encountered when using a traditional ruler … read more

     and chronic wounds

Healogics®, the nation’s wound healing expert, is proud to participate in a national diabetes awareness campaign October 29 through November 2. This campaign will highlight the important connection between diabetes and chronic wounds and their recurrence. Throughout this week, Wound Care Centers® from across the country will dedicate their time to visiting local physician offices to provide education on the treatment of potential or existing chronic wounds for people also living with diabetes … An estimated 30.3 million people in the United States have diabetes, and the percentage of adults with diabetes increases with age, reaching a high of 25.2 percent among those aged 65 years or older. In addition to age, risk factors for diabetes also include diet, activity level, obesity and heredity. Approximately one in four people living with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer. Even more alarmingly, people with healed a diabetic foot ulcer have a recurrence rate of nearly 40 percent within the first year … read more

Here’s a story about a foot ulcer and it’s tragic result in a diabetic with several other health problems. This is an attempt to inform people with diabetes about the vital necessity of foot inspection and care. It goes like this … Someone familiar, who will be Uncle Al for this yarn, had his left foot and lower leg amputated because of a diabetic foot ulcer he didn’t even know he had, because he never looked. Uncle Al has been a very happy fellow throughout his life. He had known he has diabetes for quite a while. He also has had a heart attack, and more lately congestive heart failure of controllable nature — if he watches it … read more

     short-term survival in people with diabetic foot ulcers (study)

Ankle-brachial index (ABI) is the most commonly used test when diagnosing peripheral vascular disease and is considered a marker for cardiovascular risk. Transcutaneous oxygen pressure (TcPO₂), a test associated with microvascular function, has in several studies shown better correlation with diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) healing. Whether a low TcPO₂ could be a marker for mortality in the high-risk population of DFU patients has not been evaluated before. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of TcPO₂ in comparison with ABI and toe blood pressure (TBP) on 1-year mortality in type 2 diabetes patients with DFU …. read more

Diabetic foot complications are the most common occurring problems throughout the globe, resulting in devastating economic crises for the patients, families and society. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) have a neuropathic origin with a progressive prevalence rate in developing countries compared with developed countries among diabetes mellitus patients. Diabetic patients that are of greatest risk of ulcers may easily be diagnosed with foot examination. Economic burden may be carefully examined. The budget costing must include both the clinical and social impact of the patients … Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder imparting loss in health and economic burden on patients and healthcare machinery around the globe. As the present world is facing an epidemic of both type 1 and type 2 DM, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has focused on the micro and macrovascular complications associated with DM. In 2005, the IDF committed to execute the management approach for diabetic foot diseases. The risk for developing foot ulcers is 25% high in patients with diabetes and it is also reported that every 30 seconds, one lower limb amputation in diabetes patients occurred around the world. The IDF has now become proactive and declared in its mandate that now is the time to increase awareness about the foot complications associated with DM in scenarios of social, personal, clinical and economic costs … read more

There are some surprising statistics about how common diabetic foot ulcers are, how often they can lead to amputation and the ultimate cost of having a foot ulcer that results in an amputation …. read more

October 25, 2018–(BRONX, NY)–By incorporating a gene-suppressing drug into an over-the-counter gel, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and their colleagues cut healing time by half and significantly improved healing outcomes compared to control treatments. Results from the combination therapy, which was tested in mice, were published online today in Advances in Wound Care …”Not only did wound healing occur more rapidly and completely, but actual regeneration occurred, with hair follicles and the skin’s supportive collagen network restored in wounded skin–clinically important improvements that are unprecedented in wound care,” says senior author David J. Sharp, Ph.D, professor of physiology & biophysics at Einstein. “We foresee this therapy having broad application for all sorts of wounds … read more

     closure combined with photon therapy for management of diabetic foot ulcers

Background: Diabetes mellitus, one of the most prevalent chronic metabolic diseases, causes many complications. Among the complications, one of the most common chronic complications is diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs).
Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of negative pressure wound therapy using vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) combined with photon therapy for the management of DFUs … Patients and methods: The study included a total of 69 patients with DFUs during the period from January 2014 to December 2015. All patients were diagnosed with DFUs with Wagner’s stage 2 or 3 and were divided into two groups – the VAC group in which patients received only VAC and the combined group in which patients received both VAC and photon therapy. Data on duration of the treatment, pre- and postoperative wound surface areas, dressing changing times, pain conditions assessed using visual analog scale scores, recurrence rate and amputation rate were collected … Results: Among all patients, 35 patients were divided into the VAC group and 34 patients into the  …. read more

     and Prevent Diabetic Foot Ulcers

More than 100 million adults in the United States live with diabetes or prediabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people know that common complications of the disease include increased thirst, weight loss and fatigue … But fewer may know about another side effect: diabetic foot ulcers, which affect nearly 25 percent of individuals and are one of the disease’s most prevalent complications. Patients with ulcers can’t put weight on the affected area in order to facilitate healing (and avoid infection) … Still, those ulcers are responsible for about 80,000 nontraumatic amputations nationwide each year — surgery that comes with a five-year mortality rate of up to 40 percent … read more

     to Dispense Wound Care Supplies

Hippocratic Solutions, an outsourced podiatry billing firm, has announced a partnership with iRemedy, a leading ecommerce medical supplies provider. The partnership will allow podiatrists to prescribe, bill for, and dispense advanced wound care supplies through their DME license … iRemedy, an industry leader in ecommerce medical supplies and medical business consulting, has recently partnered with Hippocratic Solutions … “Integrating iRemedy with Hippocratic Solutions is a real breakthrough that is going to take our Advanced Wound Care Program to the next level,” said Tony Paquin, CEO of iRemedy Healthcare. “We’re excited to work with Peter Koukounasand the Hippocratic Solutions team.” … Alongside outsourced podiatry billing services, Hippocratic Solutions clients will now have instant online access to iRemedy’s online platform with the ability to submit and manage prescriptions for their patients with chronic wounds. Podiatrists will be able to file and bill for wound care prescriptions directly through iRemedy, who will audit the prescription for the podiatrist and handle insurance preauthorization and any insurance denials …”Most podiatrists don’t think they can dispense and profit from wound care supplies through their license, but this just isn’t true,” said Peter Koukounas, CEO of Hippocratic Solutions. “By partnering with iRemedy, we’re helping podiatrists earn greater profits while drastically improving patient outcomes.”

… read more

     for regenerative tissue therapy, MyOwn Skin™

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — BioLab Sciences, an innovator in regenerative medicine technologies, today announced its exclusively licensed technology for MyOwn SkinTM, a painless, non-surgical procedure, which leverages a patient’s own skin to produce full-thickness skin grafts in 5-7 days.

MyOwn SkinTM is a revolutionary approach that uses a patient’s own skin to accelerate healing of chronic wounds, burns, diabetic foot ulcers and other difficult-to-heal wounds. By utilizing a small skin sample, this regenerative approach allows the body to heal itself and is less likely to face infection or rejection.

“In the United States alone, chronic wounds affect 6.5 million patients,” said Bob Maguire, BioLab Sciences CEO. “Our advanced, tissue-biomanufacturing approach offers a viable, effective solution for skin regeneration and repair. This innovative strategy has shown to accelerate the healing of damaged soft tissue and improve wound-care outcomes.”

This autologous strategy to wound care is non-invasive, improves recovery time, and eliminates potential rejection. BioLab’s impressive portfolio of regenerative products includes its amnion-derived fluid products, Fluid FlowTM and Amnio RestoreTM and its amniotic allograft membrane product Membrane PatchTM, an amnion membrane allograft …

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arizona-based-biotech-startup-biolab-sciences-announces-patent-for-regenerative-tissue-therapy-myown-skin-300736690.html

Researchers have found that smoking electronic cigarettes could slow the healing of skin wounds as much as regular cigarettes, according to a new study on rats – but admit that further studies are warranted … Smoking electronic cigarettes could slow the healing of skin wounds as much as regular cigarettes, according to a new study on rats … “Based on our findings, e-cigarettes are not a safe alternative to traditional cigarettes as it relates to timely wound healing,” said study corresponding author Dr Jeffrey Spiegel. He’s chief of facial plastic surgery at Boston Medical Center … It’s long been known that smoking regular cigarettes impairs wound healing, and surgery patients are advised to avoid smoking for several months before an elective operation … read more

By combining antibiotics and probiotics, researchers have developed a one-two punch to eradicate two strains of drug-resistant bacteria that often infect wounds, according to a preclinical study … MIT researchers encapsulated probiotic bacteria in a protective shell of alginate, which is a biocompatible material that prevents the probiotics from being killed by the antibiotic. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Advanced Materials … Probiotics, which are good live bacteria and yeasts, help send food through the digestive system by affecting nerves that control gut movement. Probiotics come from supplements, as well as foods that are prepared by bacterial fermentation, including yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, tempeh and kimchi … read more

related: Probiotics and antibiotics create a killer combination

Most Expansive Wound Care Portfolio

Acelity L.P. Inc., the world’s largest wound care company, and Crawford Healthcare, a rapidly growing UK-based advanced wound care and dermatology company, today announced an agreement for Acelity to acquire Crawford and all of its assets. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

With the acquisition of Crawford, Acelity expands its portfolio of advanced wound dressings (AWD), further strengthening its position as the global leader in advanced wound healing.

Crawford Healthcare is a recognized leader in developing and commercializing innovative treatments for the care and repair of skin. Crawford’s wound dressing portfolio includes the market-leading superabsorbent KerraMax Care® range and KerraFoam and KerraCel in the foam and antimicrobial gelling fiber AWD categories, respectively.

Crawford’s advanced wound dressing lines complement Acelity’s existing AWD portfolio, which includes the market-leading collagen dressing PROMOGRAN PRISMA™ Matrix, as well as the TIELLE™ Dressing Family and ADAPTIC™ Dressings. This expanded line of advanced wound dressings combined with Acelity’s industry-leading negative pressure wound therapy platforms forms the world’s most expansive wound care portfolio. In addition to its commercial products, Acelity will acquire Crawford’s innovative R&D capabilities and manufacturing operations based in Cheshire, UK … read more

     Association Compendium: Diagnosis and Management of Diabetic Foot Complications

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Healogics Inc., the nation’s largest provider of advanced wound care services, today announced their support of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Compendium Diagnosis and Management of Diabetic Foot Ulcer Complications through an unrestricted educational grant1. More than 30 million people across the U.S. are living with diabetes, and foot problems including foot ulcers are common complications that, without proper treatment, can lead to hospital admissions and even amputations. The ADA Compendium was compiled by a panel of contributing authors and distributed this month to health care professionals who subscribe to the ADA’s peer-reviewed journals Diabetes Care and Diabetes. Healogics is passionate about providing wound care for the 25 percent of diabetics who will experience a foot ulcer at some point in their life2 … “We are proud to support the ADA in their efforts to better understand the latest evidence for treating diabetic foot ulcers,” said David Bassin, Healogics Chief Executive Officer. “We are thrilled that through our unrestricted grant to the ADA, the Compendium was published with a focus on diabetic foot complications.” … read more

     what is needed to do this in a real‐world primary care setting?

To determine how routinely collected data can inform a risk model to predict de novofoot ulcer presentation in the primary care setting … Data were available on 15 727 individuals without foot ulcers and 1125 individuals with new foot ulcers over a 12‐year follow‐up in UK primary care. We examined known risk factors and added putative risk factors in our logistic model … read more

     announces patent for regenerative tissue therapy, MyOwn Skin™

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — BioLab Sciences, an innovator in regenerative medicine technologies, today announced its exclusively licensed technology for MyOwn SkinTM, a painless, non-surgical procedure, which leverages a patient’s own skin to produce full-thickness skin grafts in 5-7 days.

MyOwn SkinTM is a revolutionary approach that uses a patient’s own skin to accelerate healing of chronic wounds, burns, diabetic foot ulcers and other difficult-to-heal wounds. By utilizing a small skin sample, this regenerative approach allows the body to heal itself and is less likely to face infection or rejection.

“In the United States alone, chronic wounds affect 6.5 million patients,” said Bob Maguire, BioLab Sciences CEO. “Our advanced, tissue-biomanufacturing approach offers a viable, effective solution for skin regeneration and repair. This innovative strategy has shown to accelerate the healing of damaged soft tissue and improve wound-care outcomes.”

This autologous strategy to wound care is non-invasive, improves recovery time, and eliminates potential rejection. BioLab’s impressive portfolio of regenerative products includes its amnion-derived fluid products, Fluid FlowTM and Amnio RestoreTM and its amniotic allograft membrane product Membrane PatchTM, an amnion membrane allograft composed of a connective tissue matrix that regenerates soft tissue while inhibiting inflammation and scarring. BioLab Sciences also offers a comprehensive wound care kit that provides physicians with the necessary tools to help patients recover quickly from diabetic ulcers, burns and other traumatic external wounds, as well as its Amnio Breathe Nebulizer bundled package designed to deliver a topical treatment directly onto a patient’s respiratory system …

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arizona-based-biotech-startup-biolab-sciences-announces-patent-for-regenerative-tissue-therapy-myown-skin-300736690.html

Poor wound healing in diabetes is associated with increased chronic inflammation and alterations in macrophage accumulation. Chronic inflammation can alter the phenotype of macrophage precursors, monocytes but whether their phenotype is changed in association with wound healing is not known. Blood was obtained from 21 patients (14 male: 7 female) attending the High Risk Foot Clinic at RPA Hospital at their initial visit (V1), week 4 (V2) and week 8 (V3). Wound area was measured and wound type was assessed by a podiatrist. Monocyte number (CD14⁺), phenotype as classical (CD16⁻), non-classical (CD16⁺⁺), and intermediate (CD16⁺), anti-inflammatory (CD163⁺) subset and expression of receptors CCR2, CCR5 and TLR2, TLR4 were determined by flow cytometry. The MMPs and TIMP-1 were measured in plasma by zymography and ELISA. Over the 8 weeks, 6 ulcers healed (H) and 15 failed to heal (NH). The age, duration of diabetes, HbA1c, wound size and duration at V1 were not different between the groups but the % CD16⁺⁺ monocytes was higher in H vs. NH at V1 (23.5 vs. 8.3) and V3 (17.4 vs. 7.2) and monocyte CCR2⁺ was lower in H at V3  … read more

Objective assessment of wound healing is fundamental to evaluate therapeutic and nutritional interventions and to identify complications. Despite availability of many techniques to monitor wounds, there is a need for a safe, practical, accurate, and effective method. A new method is localized bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) that noninvasively provides information describing cellular changes that occur during healing and signal complications to wound healing. This article describes the theory and application of localized BIA and provides examples of its use among patients with lower leg wounds. This promising method may afford clinicians a novel technique for routine monitoring of interventions and surveillance of wounds … read more

     How to Keep Yourself out of Court: Part 1

No matter the setting in which we practice, as health care providers we constantly are under the threat of a malpractice lawsuit. In nursing homes the top targets for litigation are pressure ulcers, malnutrition, and dehydration. Up to 20% of all U.S. legal medical claims and more than 10% of settlements are wound related,¹ and there are more than 17,000 pressure ulcer-related lawsuits filed annually in the United States … So, it behooves us to take the necessary measures to avoid being sued! What are the perils and pitfalls of wound care that we may encounter in our practice, and how can we best avoid them? This blog explores the various elements that can make or break a case … read more

     as One of the Best Abstracts Presented at the Leading Diabetic Foot Global Conference

The number of biotech companies completing an IPO has swelled this year and Adynxx aims to join their ranks—but through an alternate path. The pain drug developer has agreed to combine operations with publicly traded Alliqua Biomedical … Under the merger agreement announced Friday, shares of Adynxx will convert into Alliqua (NASDAQ: ALQA) stock, leaving former Adynxx shareholders owning approximately 86 percent of the combined company. That company will have the Adynxx name and will be led by the current Adynnx management team. It will be headquartered in San Francisco, where Adynxx is currently based … read more

Diabetic foot ulcers are a major health and economic global burden, but ultimately, at least in theory, they’re preventable. The re-ulceration rate is as high as 65% within 5 years, and among persons who initially present with a diabetic foot ulcer, up to 25% may require amputation … One of the most important risk factors for diabetic foot ulceration is diabetic peripheral neuropathy. This involves loss of sensory perception, haptic feedback, and pain perception, so patients can’t self-regulate their foot pressures. It’s thought that these high foot pressures over time cumulatively contribute to the development of diabetic foot ulcers … read more

Throughout my career I have been lucky enough to be part of several nursing branches: home health, long-term care, acute care, long-term acute care hospital, hospice, and even a tuberculosis hospital; wounds have no limitations on where they will appear. As a passionate clinician, teaching, coaching, and mentoring have become a huge part of what I do, as is true for most clinicians. We are teachers, coaches, and mentors driven by passion and wanting to help and put in our “two clinical cents” or “stamp” on the industry … I frequently converse with clinicians in my area, all part of SWAT (skin and wound assessment team), and talk about how it takes a village. I especially enjoy talking with my good friend and mentor Jesse Cantu, RN, BSN, CWS, FACCWS, who is a passionate clinician with a fire that gets you all excited—those who know him know what I am talking about. We share stories of what we do, we give each other constructive criticism, and we often share with each other some of the most common inadequacies we see out there. We always get after each other, in a good way: are we doing enough? and how can we help educate, empower, increase awareness … read more

Digital health company delivers mobile depth imaging with submillimeter resolution and no need for specialty hardware. The product will be showcased at Cerner Health Conference, October 8-11, Kansas City, Missouri … “Tissue Analytics uses sophisticated algorithms that allow clinicians to generate and securely transfer clinical data from Android or iOS devices into the electronic medical record (EMR). Now, for the first time ever, I’m very excited and honored to present our 3D measurement feature that requires no external device attachments,” announced Joshua Budman, CTO. “From a very simple five-second video, we can now generate a true 3D rendering of any wound, to provide clients with volume and depth measurements at a submillimeter resolution.” … read more

Data From its Expanded Access Program for Serious S. aureus Infections at IDWeek 2018 Conference

AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation (NYSE American:APHB), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on precisely targeted bacteriophage therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant infections, today announced the presentation of clinical case series data from the company’s ongoing expanded access program for its investigational bacteriophage therapeutic, AB-SA01 targeting Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), at the IDWeek 2018 conference in San Francisco … Prof. Jonathan Iredell, Senior Staff Infectious Diseases Physician at the Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Director of Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at the Westmead Institute of Medical Research and Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the University of Sydney, gave a presentation “Adjunctive bacteriophage therapy for severe Staphylococcal sepsis,” including data on 13 patients suffering from severe S. aureus infections, who were treated with AB-SA01 as an adjunct to antibiotics at the Westmead Hospital in 2017-2018. The potential treatment of S. aureus bacteremia with AB-SA01 was also the subject of the Company’s recent Type B meeting with the FDA. The treatment was conducted under emergency protocols per the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) Special Access Scheme (SAS) … read more

A local researcher is hoping to change the alarming rate of amputation due to diabetes in the province … Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest rate of diabetes in the country, and the highest rate of lower limb amputation due to diabetes … Kathleen Stevens is a Registered Nurse and PhD candidate at Memorial University’s School of Nursing … read more

Windsor skin care products provider Scapa Healthcare says it has completed its acquisition of an England-based maker of wound care products … Scapa is adding Systagenix and its 335,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Gargrave, England to its wound care footprint. Financial terms were not disclosed … read more

Protein–energy malnutrition is known to be involved in wound healing. While wound healing in patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) is a complex and multifactorial process, the role of malnutrition in this case has rarely been explored. The objective of this study was to determine whether the nutritional status of diabetic patients influences the healing of DFU … 48 patients were included in this prospective, single-center study. All patients with comorbidities or factors involving malnutrition or influencing biological measurements were excluded. Patients were followed up for 24 weeks … read more at Acta Diabetologica (purchase required)

     developing incident diabetic foot ulcers

BERLIN — Wearing pressure-sensing smart insoles (SurroSense Rx, Orpyx Medical Technologies) reduced diabetic foot ulcer recurrence by up to 86% in compliant patients in a randomized single-blinded trial in high-risk individuals with type 1 and 2 diabetes … Neil Reeves, PhD, professor of musculoskeletal biomechanics, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, presented the results here today at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2018 Annual Meeting …“By using a plantar pressure-sensing smart insole device, the feedback of pressure information in the intervention arm reduces ulcer recurrence by 71%, and furthermore in the compliant patients, this further increased benefit, with an 86% reduction in ulcer recurrence [compared with controls],” he reported … read more

Bioactive glass implants are commonly used in orthopedics and dentistry as they can form strong and direct bonds with bone. The capability of bioactive glass to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels also makes them ideal for wound healing …Bioactive glasses are a group of surface-reactive glass-ceramic biomaterials. The first bioactive glass was developed in 1969 by Larry L. Hench at the University of Florida … This material was formed using silicate glass in order to enhance the mechanical and bioactive properties needed for applications in bone regeneration … read more

MTF Biologics today announced that it has formed a new tissue recovery relationship with Regenerative Biologics, Inc. (RBI). Together, the organizations will seek to provide expanded birth tissue donation opportunities for expectant mothers and their families and enhance patients’ access to high-quality placental tissues for wound care applications … Joe Yaccarino, President and CEO of MTF Biologics added, “MTF Biologics is pleased to partner with RBI again as it combines the key strengths of each of our organizations and expands donation opportunities. We’ve known many of the senior staff at RBI for years and are excited to be collaborating with them again.” … read more

An October report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics revealed a startling increase in the prevalence of obesity in the U.S., with rates now approaching 20% in children and 40% in adults for 2015-2016 … The growing epidemic has not spared those with type 1 diabetes. Today, obesity prevalence is as high or higher among patients with type 1 diabetes as in the general population. According to 2015 data from the T1D Exchange Clinic Registry, nearly 40% of children and adolescents with the disease also have overweight or obesity, putting them at increased risk for insulin resistance, hypertension and dyslipidemia — all the hallmarks of not type 1, but type 2 diabetes … read more

Demonstrating That Lyopreservation Method Developed for Living Tissues is an Alternative to Cryopreservation with the Convenience of Ambient Storage

COLUMBIA, Md., Oct. 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIR), a regenerative medicine company focused on developing and marketing products for wound care, orthopedics, and sports medicine, announced today that a new peer-reviewed manuscript entitled “Properties of Viable Lyopreserved Amnion Are Equivalent to Viable Cryopreserved Amnion with the Convenience of Ambient Storage” has been published in PLOS ONE and is available online https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204060 … In the published study the structural, molecular, and wound relevant properties of a lyopreserved human amniotic membrane were compared with the properties of a cryopreserved human amniotic membrane. Results showed that the structure, growth factors, and cell viability of the lyopreserved amnion are comparable to that of cryopreserved and fresh amnions. Properties of lyopreserved and cryopreserved amniotic membranes were tested in vivo in a diabetic mouse chronic wound model, which mimics impaired wound healing reported in diabetic patients. Both lyopreserved and cryopreserved amnion weekly applications resulted in wound closure by day 35 whereas in the saline gel control group of animals wounds became larger … read more

Thermal imaging can better predict a diabetes related foot ulcer’s size and the healing trajectory than conventional methods, Melbourne-led research has found. It could also possibly save money through better targeted treatment … The study, which was the first of its kind, was a collaboration between RMIT University, the University of Melbourne and Austin Health. It used thermal imaging to quantify the size and predict the healing status of recently developed ulcers … based on their work, the RMIT researchers want to see thermal imaging, which is suitable for most clinical settings, used as an inexpensive and real-time option to identify wounds that may have delayed healing … read more

A low dose of calcipotriol, which is already approved for the treatment of psoriasis, may improve healing and prevent wound infections in patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), a study showed … treatment with calcipotriol ointment helped close a chronic wound in one patient and eliminated harmful bacteria growing inside it. The compound was also able to enhance skin cells’ defenses against microbial growth and reduce cancer proliferation in skin cells of RDEB patients … read more

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate approximately 30 million surgical procedures are performed annually in the United States.1 Advances in technology have afforded patients options such as minimally invasive surgery, commonly known as laparoscopic or arthroscopic surgery, which tend to result in much smaller (1cm–2cm) incisions … However, some procedures necessitate larger incisions of varying size, potentially 10cm–20cm or greater, depending on type of procedure, body habitus, and anatomic area involved. These longer incisions create larger surgical wounds with greater potential for chronicity and complications … read more

This Quick Guide outlines how using a partnership of tried and tested AQUACEL dressings can provide effective wound management. The focus is on AQUACEL Extra dressing, which is designed to lock in harmful bacteria, micro-contour to the wound bed to maintain optimal moisture balance and reduce ‘dead space’ where bacteria can grow, and respond to wound conditions by forming a cohesive gel when in contact with exudate … read more

     in critical limb ischaemia patients after endovascular intervention

Preliminary findings from an initial study with 25 patients have shown that measuring the changes in oxygen concentration at baseline, during, and after endovascular revascularisation, can predict wound healing and functional improvement in critical limb ischaemia patients … Marianne Brodmann, Medical University Graz, Austria, presented the initial OMNIA study results that used the Lumee oxygen platform (Profusa) as a unique tool to assess and clinical management of critical limb ischaemia patients at the Leipzig Interventional Course (LINC; 30 January–2 February 2018, Leipzig, Germany). The platform is designed to provide immediate feedback on the quality of revascularisation and along the entire course of the patient’s recovery. It uses hydrogel sensors that are injected into the skin of the patient that measure the oxygen concentration in the tissue … read more

Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) affects up to half of patients with diabetes and is a major cause of functional impairment and increased mortality. Its clinical manifestations include sensations such as burning, stabbing and tingling and/or loss of sensation, and it increases the risk for injuries and foot ulceration. Oral pharmacological therapy is the standard approach to management. It is effective in some patients, but its use is limited due to unfavourable side-effect profiles, limited response rates and drug interactions. Increasing evidence of the localized, non-systemic treatment approach of topical analgesics aims to overcome these obstacles and provide valuable, efficacious and safe management of PDN. This article reviews the rapidly expanding field of topical analgesia in managing PDN … read more

This document originated in 2001 as a joint position statement from a collaborative effort of the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.1,2 Its purpose was to review the evidence about clean vs. sterile technique and present approaches for chronic wound care management. Then as now, areas of controversy exist due to a lack of agreement on the definitions of “clean” and “sterile” technique, lack of consensus as to when each is indicated in the management of chronic wounds, and lack of research to serve as a guide. Wound care practices are extremely variable and are frequently based on rituals and traditions as opposed to a scientific foundation … read more

     advocacy project

The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) and EWMA are collaborating on a joint engagement in the PU prevention and patient safety agendas at the European level as well as at the national level in selected European countries.

Five articles by the joint EPUAP-EWMA initiative have now been published. The articles are available for download here:

The role of pressure ulcer prevention in the fight against antimicrobial resistance

EWMA & EPUAP added-value to OECD efforts

Diabetic Control & Pressure Ulcers: fighting fatal complications and
improving quality of life

Patient safety across Europe: the perspective of pressure ulcers.

The time to invest in patient safety and pressure ulcer prevention is now!

Patient safety has for some years been high on the European Commission health care agenda. At the EU level as well as at national levels of many European nations, considerable investments have been made by health care authorities to establish organisations and programmes addressing the patient safety agenda.

Looking at the patient safety agenda from a wound care perspective, the topic of Pressure Ulcer (PU) prevention has always been central due to the fact that most PU’s are preventable if the patient is managed correctly by health care staff … read more

     Load and Biofilm in Venous Leg Ulcers: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) solution as a wound cleanser on bacterial load and bacterial biofilm in venous leg ulcers … The target population was adults attending the dermatology outpatient clinic of the Clinical Hospital of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The sample comprised 44 patients with venous leg ulcers recruited over a 6-month period … read more

Liraglutide lowers risk for amputation: investigators find patients treated with GLP-1 drug had significantly lower number of amputations compared to placebo group.

The word may still be out on whether certain oral diabetes medications puts patients at risk for lower limb complications, but a new study has shown that liraglutide is not one of them. A post hoc review analysis of the LEADER trial published in Diabetes Care examined the effects of Liraglutide on rates of foot ulceration and amputation in patients at high risk for cardiovascular (CV) events.

Liraglutide, a GLP-1 agonist, is an injectable glucose-lowering medication used in patients with type 2 diabetes. GLP-1 agonists act by mimicking the effects of the hormone GLP-1, which increases insulin secretion and lowers glucagon release. This, in effect, causes increased satiety and slowed gastric emptying, with one of the main benefits of GLP-1 agonists being weight loss in patients with diabetes … read more

BOSTON, Sept. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Recently, research undertaken by the UK’s House of Commons library at the request of the UK’s Labour Party revealed that diabetic foot and toe amputations performed by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has risen by 26 percent. Between April 2010 and March 2013, minor amputations due to diabetes numbered 15,075. This has risen to 19,073 in the same 3-year period of 2014 – 2017. Though the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledge that the rate of minor amputations has increased, it is also important to note that they state that the number of major amputations (above the ankle) has decreased. Regardless, diabetic foot amputations are estimated to cost the NHS over £44 million just in the year 2016.

Patients typically arrive at the point of requiring a lower limb amputation due to tissue necrosis resulting from an infected diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). DFUs are hard to heal wounds that remain open for extended time. Thus, extra care is required in keeping the wound clean and in preventing infection. DFUs are formed in the first place due to ischemia and neuropathy, two side effects of poor blood glucose management.

Clearly, the best intervention is to prevent the formation of DFUs in the first place. This may begin in good management of blood glucose to prevent ischemia and neuropathy, though sensor technologies can also be used for the express purpose of preventing DFUs. Once the wound is formed, preventing and treating any wound infection is critical. However, there are many factors that healthcare providers have to contend with during the treatment of DFUs … read more

SalvePeds:  An early-stage pharmaceutical company offering the novel drug ND-336 as a topical therapy for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. SalvePeds’ goal is to provide an effective, safe and convenient therapeutic treatment for DFUs to improve the quality of life for patients and ultimately decrease the number of ulcer related amputations. (University of Notre Dame) … from Inside Indiana Business

     as First-Line Treatment of DFUs in the Wound Clinic

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a major concern in the outpatient wound clinic due to the growing diabetes epidemic, the significant morbidity and mortality associated with DFUs, and the economic burden on the healthcare system. Despite a well-established standard of care for DFUs, which includes effective offloading as a cornerstone, there are gaps in practice with regard to clinical implementation of appropriate offloading. This article will provide a discussion of the evidence supporting the use of offloading as a standard of care for DFUs with a focus on total contact casting (TCC). In addition, we will discuss barriers to using TCC in clinical practice followed by an example of how one heavily trafficked wound clinic located in Texas has successfully implemented TCC and has experienced a positive impact on wound healing rates as well as clinic efficiency … read more

Support surfaces alone neither prevent nor heal pressure ulcers. They are to be used as part of a total program of prevention and treatment. When pressure ulcers deteriorate or fail to heal, the professional should consider replacing the existing support surface with one that will improve pressure redistribution and microclimate (heat and moisture control) for the individual. Changing the support surface is only one of several strategies to consider. The individual and his or her pressure ulcer should be re-evaluated. Preventive interventions and local wound care should also be intensified as needed. A significant increase in risk status may also prompt such re-evaluation of the individual and the support surface … read more

     in patients with soft tissue sarcoma with long-term follow-up

In a cohort of patients treated for soft tissue sarcoma (STS) with modern radiotherapy (RT) and surgical techniques, experts assessed the rates of acute and chronic wound complications and related factors. They identified all adult nonmetastatic patients treated for STS at a single institution between 2006 and 2015 with a minimum 1-year follow-up. In these patients, the rate of acute wound complications was 22.1%. In STS patients, numerous factors linked to acute and chronic wound complications, including the timing of RT, tumor site, and reconstruction use, were found. Results demonstrated the probable correlation between development of acute wound complications with a higher risk of chronic wound complications … read more

Corstrata, a provider of digital healthcare IT solutions and services for wound prevention and care management, announced today a partnership with Citus Health, a digital health solutions provider for the post-acute care industry, to power its next-generation virtual clinic. Corstrata will leverage Citus Health’s state-of-the-art patient and provider engagement platform to enable enhanced remote access to wound and ostomy care experts for wound and ostomy patients everywhere … Corstrata will utilize the Citus Health platform to serve its wound and ostomy customers, provider customers, and Diabetic Foot Ulcer Prevention members. Citus provides a versatile, leading-edge, patient and provider engagement architecture for enhanced care coordination and communication to improve clinical and financial outcomes. The Corstrata branded app powered by Citus Health will integrate key technologies, including wound image capture, video, patient engagement, and with the flexibility of the platform, streamline the capability to add third-party IoT data sources in the future … read more

BOSTON, Sept. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Recently, research undertaken by the UK’s House of Commons library at the request of the UK’s Labour Party revealed that diabetic foot and toe amputations performed by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has risen by 26 percent. Between April 2010 and March 2013, minor amputations due to diabetes numbered 15,075. This has risen to 19,073 in the same 3-year period of 2014 – 2017. Though the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledge that the rate of minor amputations has increased, it is also important to note that they state that the number of major amputations (above the ankle) has decreased. Regardless, diabetic foot amputations are estimated to cost the NHS over £44 million just in the year 2016 … read more

A new system that uses a multilayer patch made with a patient’s own leukocytes, platelets, and fibrin can speed the healing of diabetic foot ulcers, according to new findings … “The use of LeucoPatch is associated with significant enhancement of healing of hard-to-heal foot ulcers in people with diabetes,” Dr. Frances Game of Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK and colleagues conclude in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology online September 19 report … read more

Researchers have identified a new mechanism involving ginsenoside Rb1, which has the ability to stimulate keratinocyte migration and promote cutaneous wound healing. They report the results of a study showing that Rb1 enhances keratinocyte migration in an article published in Journal of Medicinal Food, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The researchers demonstrated that Rb1 significantly increases the production of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), which is a signaling factor in keratinocytes known to stimulate wound repair through greater keratinocyte migration … read more

Comprehensive treatment of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) includes moist local or topical wound care, serial sharp debridement, treatment of infection, mechanical offloading, glycemic control, nutritional management, and overall chronic disease management. These facets of therapy are best addressed by an interdisciplinary approach.

If we understand the principles of healing, what can we do to prevent the pathologic process of DFUs? Instituting measures to prevent development of DFUs can decrease morbidity and mortality. There are several organizations with guidelines for prevention of DFU and subsequent complications including amputation, infection, and loss of independence. This article will review the highlights of some of the most recent guidelines for DFU prevention … read more

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Healogics Inc., the nation’s largest provider of advanced wound care services, today announced they have joined the App Orchard to begin working on an integration to improve interoperability within their nationwide network of Wound Care Centers®. Currently, this integration is set to deploy in the fall of 2019.

This integration will allow discrete data flow between systems with a goal to reduce errors for hospital compliance and audits, eliminate redundant double entry work for Wound Care Centers and foster better partnerships with hospital systems. Additionally, these updates will allow for integration with Healogics applications, and Epic creating a more streamlined user experience.

“This integration is a major step forward for Healogics’ hospital partners that are looking to use Epic in their Wound Care Center,” said Ty Smith, Chief Information Officer at Healogics. “This level of integration will bring the best of Healogics applications into the Epic ecosystem and supports our Centers with the best technology available. We are looking forward to all the ways in which these updates will improve the patient experience and save time for clinicians and physicians, all while increasing the quality and consistency of patient care.” … read more

MiMedx Group (NASDAQ:MDXG) is up 6% premarket on light volume on the heels of the publication of a study evaluating its dehydrated human umbilical cord (dHUC) for the treatment of chronic diabetic foot ulcers in the International Wound Journal … In the intent-to-treat group, 70% of patients receiving weekly dHUC allograft achieved complete healing by week 12 compared to 48% of those receiving standard-of-care (SOC) treatment for 12 weeks (p=0.0089) … read more

     a structured review of published clinical trials

MEDLINE, PubMed, and related registries were searched through December 2017 to identify randomized, quasi-randomized or observational trials that evaluated the efficacy of lower extremity DNS on pain relief (primary outcome) or other secondary outcomes. Observational studies were included, given investigators’ reluctance to use sham surgery controls. Outcome effect size was estimated, and a weighted average was calculated.
Results: Eight of 23 studies evaluated pain relief, including a double-blind randomized controlled trial (with a sham surgery leg), an unblinded trial with a nonsurgical control leg, and 6 observational studies. All reported substantial pain relief post-DNS with average effect sizes between two and five. Unexpectedly, the double-blind trial showed improvement in the sham leg comparable to the DNS leg … read more

Having read a recent article on clean versus sterile dressing technique, commenting again on this issue seems highly appropriate. The conclusion of the paper essentially is that a clean technique for acute wound care does not affect the incidence of infection.¹ There is insufficient evidence in the literature relating to chronic wound care. I particularly appreciated the comment that nurses need to decide which approach to have by using critical thinking skills. I was reminded of a visit to a patient to utilize a fancy new dressing that I had never used before …  read more

NuVasive (NSDQ:NUVA) said today it launched three new products as part of its biologics portfolio, including its Traditional Bone Allograft, Amniotic Membrate DS and Propel DBM …The San Diego-based company’s Traditional Bone Allograft includes cancellous chips, demineralized cancellous chips, cortical cancellous chips and cancellous crushed, which the company claims the has osteoconductive properties intended to provide a scaffold for bone growth … The newly launched Amniotic Membrane DS is a dual-sided layer of human amniotic membrane intended to act as a biologic barrier to prevent adhesions and reduce scar tissue formation near adjacent muscle, nerve and fascia layer tissues … read more

With the plethora of wound dressings available, how can you choose the right dressing for your patients? Assessing the merits and drawbacks of current and emerging dressings, these authors share their experience with multi-layer dressings, wound cleansers, dressings that facilitate wound debridement and others … In our wound care practice, we diagnose and treat various etiologies of lower extremity wounds including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, pressure ulcers and other wounds. As there are hundreds of wound dressings and topical treatments available in the United States today … read more

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a term used to describe atherosclerotic vessels in the periphery, mostly affecting the lower extremities. The blocked vessels impair blood and oxygen perfusion to the lower limbs and may lead to increased risk of ulceration, wounds and amputations. PAD is also associated with increased risk of coronary and cerebrovascular incidents. More than 50% of people living with PAD may not have any clinical symptoms, posing a challenge to diagnosis and management. This article will discuss the aetiology, presentation, risk factors, and management of PAD as related to the lower extremities … read more

     on each chronic wound patient

• Chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers, take more than 8 months to heal for the average patient and some will be affected for decades1
• Despite advancements in wound care, patients report dressings are changed on average 5 times a week1
• This poses a huge burden on UK nurses and impacts the quality of life for nearly all (90%) of patients1

     The impact of a wound centre on a vascular surgery practice

The opening of an outpatient wound centre has been associated with a significant increase in peripheral vascular practice and a significant decrease in amputation rate. Venita Chandra and colleagues Alyssa M Flores, Matthew W Mell and Ronald L Dalman (Stanford University, Stanford, USA) believe that such centres result in synergistic systems that promote more aggressive and effective limb salvage strategies. Chandra presented the findings of a recent study analysing the clinical impact of a wound care centre on a vascular surgery practice, at the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM; 20–23 June, Boston, USA) … read more

MUNICH — Local injection of mesenchymal stem cells derived from autologous bone marrow shows promise in healing recalcitrant neuropathic diabetic foot ulcers, a novel study from Egypt shows.

Presenting the results at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2016 Annual Meeting, Ahmed Albehairy, MD, from Mansoura University, Egypt, said: “In patients who received the mesenchymal stem cells, ulcer reduction was found to be significantly higher compared with patients on conventional treatment after both 6 weeks and 12 weeks of follow-up. This is despite the fact that initial ulcer size was larger in the stem-cell–treated group.”

After 6 weeks, median ulcer reductions were 49.9% and 7.67% (P = .001) in stem-cell–treated and control groups, respectively, and after 12 weeks, median ulcer reductions were 68.24% and 5.27% (P = .0001). Complete healing was achieved in one case in the mesenchymal stem cell–treated group.

“The healing mechanism may be due to the pure effect of injected mesenchymal stem cells … read more

May Solve Problems For Patients With Chronic Wounds

Bio-inks are becoming an increasingly common feature of next-generation medicine. These inks consist of living cells from donor tissues that may be suspended in bio-compatible solutions or polymers. The bio-inks are laid down or deposited using techniques much like medical-grade 3D printing … A recent project that incorporates bio-inks is intended to address deep skin wounds and the issues that affect their treatment and ultimate healing. The scientists behind it hope that their innovative solution can improve outcomes for these patients while overcoming the problems they face as a result of current medical practice … read more

     Subepidermal Moisture Measurements Versus Ultrasound and Visual Skin Assessments for Early Detection of Pressure Injury

Pressure ulcers (PUs) are detected by visual skin assessment (VSA). Evidence suggests ultrasound (US) and subepidermal moisture (SEM) scanner technology can measure tissue damage before it is visible … A pilot study was conducted to evaluate consistency between SEM and US examinations of suspected deep tissue injury (sDTI) … Using an observational, prospective cohort study design, patients >55 years of age were recruited. VSA, SEM, and US assessments were performed daily for a minimum of 3 and maximum of 10 consecutive days following enrollment. US results were considered indicative of sDTI if hypoechoic lesions were present. SEM readings were considered abnormal when ∆ ≥0.6 was noted for at least 2 consecutive days. Boolean analysis was utilized to systematically determine consistency between US and SEM where sDTI was the clinical judgment … read more

     the UK, Denmark, and Sweden: an observer-masked, randomised controlled trial

The LeucoPatch device uses bedside centrifugation without additional reagents to generate a disc comprising autologous leucocytes, platelets, and fibrin, which is applied to the surface of the wound. We aimed to test the effectiveness of LeucoPatch on the healing of hard-to-heal foot ulcers in people with diabetes … Methods … This was a multicentre, international, observer-masked, randomised controlled trial of people with diabetes and a hard-to-heal foot ulcer done in 32 specialist diabetic foot clinics in three countries (UK, Denmark, and Sweden). After a 4-week run-in period, those with a reduction in ulcer area of less than 50% were randomly allocated … read more

While 3M is 116 years old, the company continues to churn out new products like a young startup. Research and development remains the heartbeat of 3M with the company spending $1.9 billion or 6% of sales in 2017 on research and development to drive organic growth and new products … Top priorities for growth today include automotive electrification, advanced wound care, connected safety, data centers, structural adhesives, filtration, air quality and population health … read more

Brookfield-based professional training webinar provider OnCourse Learning is set to be acquired by German company Bertelsmann for a reported $500 million. The transaction is expected to close this fall, pending regulatory approval … OnCourse was sold by New York private equity firm CIP Capital, which acquired the company in 2014 from Cleveland private equity firm The Riverside Co. The transaction was described by Bertelsmann as “in the mid-nine-digit euro range.” Reuters pegged the deal at around $500 million … The company, which was founded in 2007, has grown steadily via acquisition. In January, it announced the acquisition of Lake Geneva-based Wound Care Education Institute Inc., … read more

3D–printed objects are no longer a novelty and are paving the way for incredible scientific innovation. For example, a large 3D–printed engine part was successfully tested and could be used in the next generation SLS rocket that will send humans to the moon and Mars, NASA reported … The road to recovery for any individual with deep skin wounds, which affect all three layers of the skin, can be as painful and traumatic as the incident itself … Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a handheld 3D printer filled with “bio ink” — essentially an ink cartridge containing biological materials. The bio ink contains strips of biomaterial that include the proteins collagen and fibrin, which are used to promote wound healing … read more

• Wound care management in Indonesia: issues and challenges in diabetic foot ulceration
  There are 415 million people aged 20–79 years with diabetes worldwide, almost 153 million of them live in the Western Pacific region (Ogurtsova et al, 2017). The number of people with diabetes is predicted to rise to 642 million worldwide by 2040 (Ogurtsova et al, 2017). Indonesia has approximately 258 million citizens, making it the world’s fourth most populated country. It is one of 21 countries and territories in the International Diabetes Federation Western Pacific region. According to the International Diabetes Federation (2017), about 10.3 million Indonesians have diabetes
• Optimising quality of life for people with non-healing wounds
  Some wounds persist for months or years (Krasner et al, 2014). Non-healing wounds may be a result of host factors, such as inadequate vasculature, medications that interfere with the healing process, immunocompromised status or critically-ill status with non-modifiable risk factors (terminal disease, end-stage organ failure and other life-threatening health conditions). Among patients who are dying, receiving hospice or palliative care, non-healing or palliative wounds can be associated with complications
• Reconstruction of a soft tissue defect of the big toe by pedicled perforator flap
  Treatment of soft tissue defect on the distal of the big toe is challenging due to the lack of reliable options that can be used to create a local flap to cover the injured area. Following injury, soft tissue defects expose the structures, joints, tendons and bone. Even a small defect will become problematic if it is not managed appropriately
• Natrox® — Let the topical oxygen flow for healing complex wounds
  The presence of a wound increases the body’s requirement for oxygen by 20% for a patient with a clean wound and by 50% for an infected wound (Dernling, 2009). Oxygen is critical to many of the processes required in wound healing including the production of energy to fuel cell function and metabolism, angiogenesis, collagen synthesis and cross-linking

     AB-PA01 product targeting P.aeruginosa infections

AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on precisely targeted bacteriophage therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant infections, today announced that the company has received positive feedback, via written response, from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its development plans for AB-PA01, without the need for a Type B Pre-IND meeting … “We are delighted with the FDA’s response to our development plans for AB-PA01, AmpliPhi’s bacteriophage product candidate targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, and the FDA’s concurrence on the proposed design of two randomized controlled clinical trials, in hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia and P. aeruginosabacteremia,” said Paul C. Grint, M.D., CEO … read more

Beverly Hospital will be hosting its first Amputation Prevention Summit on Saturday, September 29, 2018 on the hospital campus at 309 West Beverly Boulevard, Montebello, California, drawing clinicians from the greater Los Angeles area.

This educational event will highlight the urgent nature of the diabetes epidemic— diabetes being among one of the top ten leading causes of death in California and the leading cause of non-traumatic lower extremity amputation. Guest speakers will share important data, current trends in limb salvage and best-practices in the battle against diabetes-related complications. They will also discuss ways healthcare professionals can improve their practices in order to reduce lower extremity amputations.

A person with diabetes has a risk of leg amputation that is 15-40 times greater than a person without diabetes. Within two to four years of unilateral limb loss, one-third of all patients lose the other leg. Only about 50% survive more than five years following a leg amputation. With the future incidence of diabetes projected to rise to 550 million people worldwide by the year 2030, limb salvage is becoming a viable alternative, often producing better outcomes than amputation … read more

     may be mediated through differential gene expression

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has been successfully used as a treatment for diabetic foot ulceration (DFU). Its mechanism of action on the molecular level, however, is not fully understood. We assessed the effect of NPWT on gene expression in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and DFU … The final cohort encompassed 21 patients treated with NPWT and 8 with standard therapy. The groups were similar in terms of age (69.0 versus 67.5 years) and duration of T2DM (14.5 versus 14.4 years). We identified four genes differentially expressed between the two study arms post-treatment, but not pre-treatment: GFRA2 (GDNF family receptor alpha-2), C1QBP (complement C1q binding protein), RAB35 (member of RAS oncogene family) and SYNJ1 (synaptic inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate 5-phosphatase 1) … read more

One Call, the nation’s leading provider of workers’ compensation care management services, and Broadspire®, a subsidiary of Crawford & Company® and a leading global third-party administrator, today announced a partnership to develop a customized patient-centric wound resource program to improve wound healing of injured workers.

The primary goal of wound care is to provide optimal conditions for the natural reparative processes to take place on their own. One Call’s new wound resource program, in partnership with Broadspire, utilizes evidence-based protocols to proactively identify injured workers who either have a non-healing wound or may be at risk for developing wounds.

Wounds that have continued for more than 30 days are 36-69 percent less likely to heal. Chronic wounds affect 5.7 million people in the U.S. at an annual cost of $20 billion.^[1] Pressure ulcers are among the most common chronic wounds. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), pressure ulcers account for more than 17,000 lawsuits annually and are the second most common claim after wrongful death. Sadly, about 60,000 patients die as a direct result of a pressure ulcer each year.

“Pressure ulcers and other chronic wounds have an enormously detrimental impact on function and overall healing,” said Dr. Marcos Iglesias, chief medical officer at Broadspire … read more

Launches October 1, 2018

COLUMBIA, Md., Sept. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Osiris Therapeutics, Inc.(NASDAQ: OSIR), a regenerative medicine company focused on developing and marketing products for wound care, orthopedics, and sports medicine, announces that GrafixPL PRIME™, a human placental membrane that can be stored at ambient temperatures, launches for sale on October 1, 2018.  The structural matrix, growth factors, and cell viability of GrafixPL PRIME is equivalent to those of Grafix^®, a cryopreserved placental membrane, but without the constraints of ultra-low temperature storage.

GrafixPL PRIME is processed using Prestige Lyotechnology^SM, which is Osiris’s preservation technique for ambient storage of living tissues.  GrafixPL PRIME is flexible and conforming and designed as a wound cover/barrier for application directly to hard-to-treat acute and chronic wounds, including but not limited to diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers and thermal burns.

Jason Keefer, Interim President and CEO said: “I am pleased to announce that our ambient temperature stable GrafixPL PRIME product will be available in all settings of care, in addition to our cryopreserved Grafix products … read more

Broadcast times available: 8:00 AM (UK), 11:00 AM (UK), 15:00 PM (UK)

Evidence has proven the positive effects of topical oxygen therapy on chronic, hard-to-heal wounds. It is becoming widely accepted that hard-to-heal wounds contain biofilm and that the presence of biofilm delays and/or prevents healing. This webcast will inform practitioners about the issue of biofilm and how it affects wound chronicity, as well as how topical oxygen therapy may help to kickstart stalled healing. The NATROX study has shown that topical oxygen therapy has a positive effect on biofilm in chronic wounds, and this webcast will provide practical guidance so this can be applied in practice to improve healing outcomes ….. read more

     Product Chosen to be a Part of Healogics New iSupply(SM) Program

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Sept. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Solsys Medical, LLC (“Solsys”) (formerly known and doing business as Soluble Systems, LLC) (“Solsys Medical”), which markets TheraSkin®, a cellular and tissue-based product for regenerative wound healing, announced today that it has partnered with Healogics, the nations largest provider of advanced chronic wound care services, to be a part of the new Healogics iSupply program, offering TheraSkin to Healogics facilities. Through the partnership with Healogics, Solsys furthers its mission to improve quality outcomes while reducing the total cost of care.  TheraSkin is a living human split-thickness skin allograft that is cryopreserved to preserve living cells and growth factors while maintaining a mature native human dermal architecture.  The versatility in applications and sizes of TheraSkin reduces product waste and helps to drive operational efficiencies in the wound care center to better manage total cost of care and quality outcomes related to wound care.

“We are very excited to be working with Healogics and have TheraSkin included in its iSupply initiative,” stated Allan Staley, CEO of Solsys Medical. “The iSupply program enables Healogics’ hospital partners improved access to TheraSkin in order to improve wound healing outcomes at a lower cost.” … read more

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are arguably among the most difficult types of wounds to manage; the etiology of these wounds poses some of the greatest clinical challenges for healing, considering the multifaceted nature of diabetes mellitus (DM). Multiple patient-related factors must be addressed and controlled through faithful adherence to the prescribed plan of care, which is developed by both the patient and clinicians to ensure success … Treatment of DFUs requires multidisciplinary provider involvement (podiatry, vascular, infectious disease, internal medicine or family practice, endocrinology, cardiology, nephrology, and physical therapy). The standard of care for patients with DFUs includes medical management of chronic disease, including nutrition and glucose control, routine wound assessments with ulcer grading and risk stratification, topical wound management with attention to serial debridements and moist wound healing … read more

Classification of Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Historically, classification and subsequent treatment of DFUs do not adequately include management of concomitant ischemia of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The Wagner Diabetic Foot Ulcer Grade Classification System, which has been in use since its inception in the 1970s, did not have the capacity to describe ischemic components of DFU. The University of Texas Diabetic Foot Ulcer Classification System, PEDIS (perfusion, extent, depth, infection, and sensation), WIfI Threatened Limb (Wound/Ischemia/Foot Infection), and SINBAD (Site, Ischemia, Neuropathy, Bacterial infection, And Depth) are classification systems that utilize degrees of ischemia as a contributing factor.

At present, subclassification of DFUs can be divided into three categories: neuropathic, ischemic, and neuroischemic. The most prevalent of the three is the neuroischemic DFU, which comprises approximately 50% of such ulcerations. Organization and reproducibility of the assessment process are crucial to success. Workups should include identification of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, both modifiable and non-modifiable. We will review appropriate assessments by using a typical history and physical examination format … read more

Scientists have revealed how proteins in menstrual blood can be used to stimulate skin repair, including wounds that otherwise recover poorly. Today, tens of billions of dollars are spent on chronic skin injuries, and increasing rates of diabetes are adding to this demand, so utilizing the womb’s incredible ability to repair itself quickly could be the way forward … “The lining of the uterus, the endometrium, is an amazing tissue which undergoes ‘self-destruction’ each month at menstruation, followed by repair and regeneration of the tissue in preparation for pregnancy. This occurs, on average, 450 times in each woman’s reproductive life,” said Dr Jemma Evans of Melbourne’s Hudson Institute of Medical Research in a statement … read more

Two analyses from the LEADER Trial show reduced risks of deaths and better outcomes in both heart health and diabetes-related foot ulcers and associated complications in patients with type 2 diabetes who are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease … GLP-1 Proves Effective in Lessening Risks of 2 Common Diabetes-Related Risks … Patients with type 2 diabetes who were at heightened risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and received liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1) saw a reduction in CVD events and cardiovascular death … read more

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     therapeutic targets and drug delivery systems

Wound healing process is an intricate sequence of well-orchestrated biochemical and cellular phenomena to restore the integrity of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Several plant extracts and their phytoconstituents are known as a promising alternative for wound healing agents due to the presence of diverse active components, ease of access, and their limited side effects. The development of nanotechnological methods can help to improve the efficacy of different therapeutics as well as herbal-based products. Here, we present a review of the efficacy of the plant based-nanomaterials in the management of wounds and discuss the involved therapeutic targets. For this purpose, a profound search has been conducted on in vitro, in vivo, and/or clinical evidences evaluating the efficacy and pharmacological mechanisms of natural product-based nanostructures on different types of wounds … read more

     a reproducibility assessment study

To assess the reproducibility of using AutoCAD software to measure the area of venous leg ulcers (VLUs) … Data from patients with VLUs were collected between March and July 2015, using data collection forms and photographing the different ulcers. A researcher and five nurses collected the data. The wounds were measured using AutoCAD software. Data were analysed using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Bland-Altman analysis … read more (login required)

To help improve the care of troops injured in combat, the United States military has been exploring the complex microbiology of combat wounds … The goal of the initiative “is to expand the understanding of the complex microbiology inherent within combat-related extremity wounds,” according to Katrin Mende, PhD … Biofilm formation in 376 Enterococcus wound isolates was found to be generally weak — 8.8% in the presence of human plasma and 1.9% in the absence of human plasma, Mende and colleagues reported … read more

Pressure injuries (bedsores) are common and reduce quality of life. They are also costly and difficult to treat. This health technology assessment evaluates the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, budget impact, and lived experience of adding electrical stimulation to standard wound care for pressure injuries … We conducted a systematic search for studies published to December 7, 2016, limited to randomized and non–randomized controlled trials examining the effectiveness of electrical stimulation plus standard wound care versus standard wound care alone for patients with pressure injuries. We assessed the quality of evidence through Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). In addition, we conducted an economic literature review and a budget impact analysis to assess the cost-effectiveness and affordability of electrical stimulation for treatment of pressure ulcers in Ontario. Given uncertainties in clinical evidence and resource use, we did not conduct … read more

When discharging patients from acute care facilities, consider cognitive and functional status; the home environment; family or caregiver support; access to services, medications, and transportation; and follow-up care.
Depending on the patient’s situation, the three goals of wound care are healing, maintenance, and comfort.
After discharge from an acute-care facility, patient medication management, diet, and lifestyle can help support wound healing … read more

     argues prof of vascular surgery

Former Head of Vascular Surgery at Bradford’s Royal Infirmary Professor Peter Vowden gave the opening address at the 3rd International Skin Integrity and Tissue Viability Conference which explored advances in and the management of all aspects wound care.

IT is estimated that annually the NHS treats over two million wounds at a cost of £5.3 billion and with tougher financial constraints being announced every year, there needs to be ongoing research to ensure the lack of finances doesn’t affect the quality of wound care available.

This was the topic of the opening lecture at the 3rd International Skin Integrity and Tissue Viability Conference hosted by the University of Huddersfield’s Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention (ISIaIP), in conjunction with the Journal of Wound Care … read more

Closing a wound usually requires a needle going through your skin, or staples. Just imagine having to sit there watching staples sticking into your flesh, not a pretty sight, right? Well, researchers have found an easier way to get things done.

One of the primary reasons the ways as mentioned above to close wounds are not perfect is the fact that they do not completely seal the entrance area. OK then, maybe doctors should use sealants to get the job done, but you know what? None of the ones available today meet the requirements of being a useful surgical tool … read more

     Management of Diabetic Foot Ulcers

The best practice recommendation articles are special publications of Wound Care Canada. Together they form the Foundations of Best Practice for Skin and Wound Management, an online resource available for free download from the Wounds Canada website (woundscanada.ca). These 2017 updates build on the work of previous author teams and incorporate the latest research and expert opinion. We would like to thank everyone involved in the production of past and present versions of these articles for their hard work, diligence and rigour in researching, writing and producing these valuable resources … read more

There does not appear to be a clinically meaningful association between baseline or prospective hemoglobin A1c (A1C) and wound healing in patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), according to a study published online April 16 in Diabetes Care.

The researchers found that baseline A1C was not associated with wound healing in univariate or in fully adjusted models. In the participants with baseline A1C <7.5 percent (hazard ratio [HR], 2.07; 95 percent CI, 1.08 to 4.00), no association with wound healing was seen with the mean A1C change from baseline. A nadir A1C change of 0.09 to 2.4 (tertile 3) was positively associated with long-term wound healing versus those with a nadir A1C … read more

Angelini and APR Applied Pharma Research strengthen their partnership in wound care with the launch of Nexodyn in the USA.

The new Nexodyn AOS wound care solution, cleared for sale by the FDA, is now starting to be available in the USA, promoted and commercialized by the Italian pharmaceutical company Angelini, as a result of an exclusive partnership with the Swiss company APR Applied Pharma Research, the owner and developer of the proprietary, patented technology TEHCLO, for the production of acidic super-oxidizing solutions.

Nexodyn helps cleanse and moisten the wound environment by removing dirt, debris and foreign material by flushing across the wound. Nexodyn is intended for use, under the supervision of healthcare … read more

     when sutured into tissue

For the first time, researchers led by Tufts University engineers have integrated nano-scale sensors, electronics and microfluidics into threads – ranging from simple cotton to sophisticated synthetics – that can be sutured through multiple layers of tissue to gather diagnostic data wirelessly in real time, according to a paper published online July 18 in Microsystems & Nanoengineering. The research suggests that the thread-based diagnostic platform could be an effective substrate for a new generation of implantable diagnostic devices and smart wearable systems … read more

Wounds can cover diabetic foot ulcers, pressure injury, vascular ulcers or wounds, immunopathic wounds and traumatic wounds. Chronic, hard-to-heal wounds also have an adverse effect on health-related quality of life. Wounds are a global problem, with increasing incidence due in part to the increase in diabetes mellitus. In Asia, there are more than 4 billion people, and this is where diabetes and its complications, namely diabetic foot, are increasing at an alarming rate … read more

     Metal–Bisphosphonate Coordination Chemistry for Wound Healing

Biomaterial‐based regenerative approaches would allow for cost‐effective off‐the‐shelf solution for the treatment of wounds. Hyaluronan (HA)‐based hydrogel is one attractive biomaterial candidate because it is involved in natural healing processes, including inflammation, granulation, and reepithelialization. Herein, dynamic metal–ligand coordination bonds are used to fabricate moldable supramolecular HA hydrogels with self‐healing properties. To achieve reversible crosslinking of HA chains, the biopolymer is modified with pendant bisphosphonate (BP) ligands using carbodiimide coupling and chemoselective “click” reactions. Hydrogel is formed immediately after simple addition of silver (Ag⁺) ions to the solution of HA containing BP groups (HA‐BP). Compared with previous HA‐based wound healing hydrogels, the HA‐BP·Ag⁺ hydrogel is highly suitable … read more

More than 120 foot and toe amputations are carried out every week in England as a result of diabetes.

Shocking figures reveal the number of amputations linked to the disease have risen by over a quarter since 2013.

Type 2 diabetes’ prevalence has more than doubled over the past decade due to rising rates of obesity, inactivity and unhealthy eating.

The disease can lead to amputations if it causes nerve damage that lead to infected wounds that do not heal. These infections can then spread to a person’s bones and even result in gangrene … read more

Windsor skin care products provider Scapa Healthcare said Thursday it has agreed to acquire an England-based maker of wound care products.

Scapa said acquiring Systagenix, and its 335,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, will “significantly” add to the Windsor company’s wound care footprint. Financial terms were not disclosed for the deal expected to be completed in October …. read more

     to using offloading devices among people with diabetes

Foot ulcers are a diabetic complication associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and amputation risk. Offloading devices prevent and heal foot ulcers, but adherence to using these devices is low. The reasons for nonadherence are unclear, and study results are difficult to compare due to methodological heterogeneity. This paper explores aspects of investigating adherence to using offloading devices among people with diabetes and provides recommendations for future studies, focusing on study designs, definitions of adherence, measurement methods, and conceptual frameworks. Most studies use a cross-sectional observational study design, limiting the potential to establish the temporal sequence between predictors and adherence, rule out confounding factors, and establish causality. Studies defining adherence as the length of time the device is worn have often used self-report to measure adherence, which may be unreliable. Studies using activity monitors to … read more

     therapy in obese and diabetic patients

Surgical site infections are a significant complication that can prevent proper wound healing, require expensive treatment and may even lead to death in severe cases. Patients with higher body mass indices and with diabetes have an increased risk of developing incision infections.

With a $1.7 million, two-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers in the University of Illinois at Chicago Epicenter for Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections — one of six such centers funded by the CDC — will determine whether negative pressure wound therapy can help reduce the incidents of surgical site infections in obese and diabetic patients.

“Obese patients are more prone to develop surgical site infections because incisions tend to be larger and need to be deeper to allow surgeons to access the areas they need to work,” said Dr. Susan Bleasdale, associate professor of clinical medicine in the UIC College of Medicine and principal investigator on the grant … read more

A smartphone application called MyWoundDoctor can help people needing wound care get quick access and treatment from a certified healthcare provider.

Here’s a simple version of how it can work: You snap a picture of the wound, select where on your body it’s located, and share a few more details about your condition. Then 30 minutes to four hours later, you’ll receive a doctor’s assessment, treatment instructions, and personalized supplies mailed to your home in a few days.

“It’s sort of a self-serve model,” said Dan Heneghan, the CEO of MyWoundDoctor, LLC which is based in Wilmington.

MyWoundDoctor was founded in 2015 by Heneghan and Dr. Nick Sieveking, a board-certified plastic surgeon.

Heneghan said he was talking with Sieveking, who said his patients had been sending pictures of wounds to him through his smartphone … read more

Researchers trick wound cells in mice into becoming healing surface skin cells

Scientists have discovered a new way of treating skin wounds in mice by tricking the cells in the wound into becoming healing surface skin cells.

The findings raise the prospect of being able to develop simple, non-surgical treatments for human wounds in the future.

Large skin wounds and ulcers are painful and occasionally life-threatening. When the surface of the skin is ruptured, epithelial cells, which make up the outer layer of the skin, migrate towards the wound in an effort to seal up the injury. But this healing process becomes more difficult in larger wounds and is impaired in older people, making the need for simple, effective treatments all the greater … read more

Antibiotic resistance is one of the factors which causes delay in wound healing and a corresponding spike in medical and healthcare expenses.

The primary reason for the emergence of resistance is the inappropriate use of antimicrobials. To use antibiotics wisely, it is necessary to understand the principles of diagnosing wound infection, what organisms are likely to be responsible, and to what antimicrobial agents they respond.

This knowledge will help to ensure that antibiotics are used only when essential, and in a manner that does not cause more resistance to be generated … read more

13 Sep 2018
Broadcast times available: 8:30 AM (UK), 12:30 PM (UK), 16:30 PM (UK)
This Wounds International webcast focuses on the role of oxygen in wound healing and how topical oxygen therapy can improve oxygenation and, therefore, healing.

In the first presentation, Breda Cullen, Research and Development Director, UK, outlines the vital role that oxygen plays throughout the healing process and the impact that lack of oxygen (hypoxia) can have on the wound. Breda explores the factors that can cause compromised healing and how these can be addressed.

In the next presentation, Hanna Kaufman, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Israel, looks in depth at the clinical evidence and how this can be applied to practice. Hanna identifies the wounds that are suitable for topical oxygen therapy and shares tips for use in practice, drawing on clinical evidence and experience.

In the final presentation, Tjun Tang, Vascular Surgeon, Singapore, looks at the role of topical oxygen therapy in limb salvage.

read more

Background and Prevalence of Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Diabetes-related foot complications, including diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), are leading causes of non-traumatic lower extremity amputation. Of the approximately 420 million adults in the United States with diabetes mellitus, one fourth will develop at least one DFU. DFUs are preceded by a compendium of risk factors, including the presence of neuropathy, external trauma, infection, effects of ischemia from concomitant peripheral arterial disease, malnutrition, and poor hygiene or self-care, among others. In 80% of patients, DFU is a precursor to some degree of lower extremity amputation. And, for these patients who have undergone amputation, their risk for further amputation becomes double that of a patient without diabetes. The mortality rate following a diagnosis of diabetic foot ulceration is 5% in the first year. The five-year mortality rate is 50% and rises to 70% after amputation. Once healed, 40% of DFUs will recur within 12 months, nearly 70% at three years, and nearly 75% at five years … read more

Sept. 6 (UPI) — Scientists have developed a technique to convert cells in open wounds into skin cells as an alternative to plastic surgery for treatment of large cutaneous ulcers.

The method involves reprogramming the cells into a stem-cell-like state for healing skin damage, including severe burns, bedsores or chronic diseases such as diabetes. The researchers at the Salk Institute also see this process as a way to counter the effects of aging and better understanding skin cancer.

Their findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“This knowledge might not only be useful for enhancing skin repair but could also serve to guide in vivo regenerative strategies in other human pathological situations, as well as during aging, in which tissue repair is impaired,” senior author Dr. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor at he Salk Institute, said in a press release … read more

GLASGOW — Residents at Signature HealthCARE of Glasgow can avoid trips to a doctor’s office or to the hospital for treatment of some medical conditions thanks to telehealth technology through YourDoc2U.

With telehealth technology, health care providers can talk face-to-face with residents, as well as the staff at the nursing facility via computer screen that sits atop a cart enabling it to be moved from location to location as needed.

Psychiatric and wound care evaluations are the medical services available to the nursing facility residents through telehealth technology.

“If we identify a need with any of our elders, we call the primary physician and ask for a consult with telewound,” said Kim Poynter, director of nursing at Signature HealthCare of Glasgow. “It’s all online. They have nurse practitioners and physicians available. If it’s an emergency situation, like if we have an elder who is having a crisis and needs psych services, we either call in or get online and make an appointment. They are available 24/7.” read more

     during burn wound care and dressing changes

Little has been published regarding intravenous (IV) ketamine for burn wound care in adult patients. Ketamine may serve as a safe alternative to provide conscious sedation and limit opioid administration to patients. The purpose of this study was to characterize IV ketamine use during burn wound care and establish its potential role as a safe adjunct to opioid and benzodiazepine medications. This is a retrospective review of adult patients admitted to a regional burn center who received IV ketamine for burn wound care. Patient demographics, medications, and ketamine-related side effects including hypertension and dysphoric reactions were recorded. Cardiopulmonary complications were also tracked. Thirty-six patients met inclusion criteria; 50 total cases were performed. The median patient age was 37 [IQR 28 – 55] years with a median burn size of 9.5 [IQR 4.0 – 52] %TBSA. The median ketamine dose administered was 1.2 [IQR 0.8 – 2.1] mg/kg. IV midazolam was administered in almost all cases (98%) at a median dose of 3.0 [IQR 2.0 – 5.0] mg. Opioids were administered in 13 of 50 cases (26%) at a median morphine … read more

BRISBANE, Australia, Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Factor Therapeutics Limited (ASX: FTT, the “Company”), an Australian biomedical company developing therapeutics for advanced wound care, is pleased to announce that the Company’s Phase 2 clinical trial VF00102, for the treatment of venous leg ulcers (VLU), is approaching the end of its treatment phase.

“Since finalising recruitment in July, the study has progressed to schedule and there are now only eight patients left to complete treatment. We expect the last patient to have their final treatment visit in the first week of October, a key milestone for the study as it then triggers a final round of data cleaning and quality checks before top-line results can be analysed in November,” said Dr Ros Wilson, CEO of Factor Therapeutics … read more

After reviewing evidence, a tool to evaluate benefit and risk has been developed showing when and when not to use an SGLT-2 inhibitor.

The management of type 2 diabetes has significantly diversified over recent years, producing a data-rich environment. SGLT2 inhibitors are a more recent agent that work by reabsorbing glucose in the kidney and cause an increase in glucose excretion in the urine. There have been misconceptions concerning the efficacy, safety and appropriate use of SGLT2 inhibitors in diabetes management. In order to address these concerns, the UK created The Improving Diabetes Steering Committee, consisting of diabetes specialists.

The Improving Diabetes Steering Committee used multiple trials to developed a quick reference guide that aims to clarify common areas in type 2 diabetes management, with a focus on SGLT2 inhibitors … read more

Cold atmospheric plasmas (CAPs) are investigated for several medical applications; major research effort is devoted to the promotion of wound healing in of chronic wounds. These wounds, typically associated with diabetes, are a major health concern due to their high occurrence in the population, long healing time, and associated high costs. Cell culture studies and clinical trials show promising results towards wound reduction or closure using relatively short plasma treatment times between 45 s and 2 min. Another growing application of CAPs is the inactivation of cancer cells. While short treatment times associated with wound healing seem to induce no permanent damage, cancer treatments are performed at significantly higher plasma exposure times.

Due to the complex nature of both wound healing and cancer, investigating the effect of plasma is challenging. One system that seems highly interesting in both wound healing and cancer is the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and one of its ligands, the epidermal growth factor (EGF). EGFR is known to be involved in several cancer types, because an overproduction or overstimulation of EGFR has a severe impact on the cell cycle by inducing proliferation … read more

So many times, we get questions about how to “skill” a resident. Is she skilled if she’s getting IVs? Is he skilled because he’s getting wound care? What about the resident whose trach is capped? Is she skilled? When the rehab patient reaches the almighty “plateau”, and isn’t getting better, is he still skilled?

We need to remember what the S-word means (no, not that one.) “Skilled” in our arena is defined by the services that we are delivering to the client, not by what the client is or isn’t doing … read more

     The impact of a wound centre on a vascular surgery practice

The opening of an outpatient wound centre has been associated with a significant increase in peripheral vascular practice and a significant decrease in amputation rate. Venita Chandra and colleagues Alyssa M Flores, Matthew W Mell and Ronald L Dalman (Stanford University, Stanford, USA) believe that such centres result in synergistic systems that promote more aggressive and effective limb salvage strategies. Chandra presented the findings of a recent study analysing the clinical impact of a wound care centre on a vascular surgery practice, at the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM; 20–23 June, Boston, USA).

According to Chandra, chronic wounds remain a growing problem, not only in the USA but worldwide—with many patients at risk of limb loss presenting as particularly challenging. This cohort requires complex and resource-intensive medical care, reported Chandra.

World experts and leaders in this specialty have developed and described programs to attempt to improve the care of these complex patients and decrease the risk of amputation … read more

Early Diagnosis of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy at the Annual Meeting of NEURODIAB

WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NeuroMetrix, Inc. (Nasdaq:NURO) today reported that it will be both exhibiting and sponsoring a diabetic neuropathy symposium at the 28th Annual Meeting of NEURODIAB held in Rome, Italy September 4-7.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the most common complication of diabetes, affecting over half of people with diabetes. It causes significant morbidity including pain, increased risk of falling in the elderly, and is the primary trigger for diabetic foot ulcers which may require lower extremity amputations. Early detection of neuropathy allows for earlier clinical intervention to help mitigate the effects of neuropathy on both patient quality of life and cost of care.

NEURODIAB is the annual meeting of the Diabetic Neuropathy Study Group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) where thought leaders share ideas and scientific findings on diabetic neuropathy. NEURODIAB is considered the most important annual event in the field of diabetic neuropathy … read more

Patients with psoriasis have a higher risk of developing new onset diabetes mellitus. It’s a risk that’s been described as statistically significant. So, in this article, we examine dermatologic care for diabetic foot infections.

Patients with psoriasis have a higher risk of developing new onset diabetes mellitus. The increased incidence of psoriasis and diabetes mellitus was documented in a 2013 study by Usman Khalid, et al. published in Diabetes Care in which authors described the correlation as “statistically significant.” So, in this article, we examine dermatologic care for diabetic foot infections.

Dermatologists must be able to diagnose and manage mild-to-moderate infections in diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), said Warren S. Joseph, D.P.M., FIDSA, in a presentation at DERMfoot 2018 in Baltimore … read more

CHICAGO — To prevent amputation, physicians must assemble a comprehensive multidisciplinary team to care for patients at risk for losing their limbs, Ramon Varcoe, MD, MBBS, MS, FRACS, PhD, said at AMP: The Amputation Prevention Symposium.

A multidisciplinary approach to limb preservation begins with recognizing the major drivers of amputation. The global public health threat posed by the “tsunami of diabetes,” for instance, is a significant problem, he said.

If a patient develops diabetes, his or her risk for amputation is 15 times as high as someone who does not, according to Varcoe.

“The impact is more than amputation itself, though; it’s a reduction in life expectancy as well,” he said, noting that studies have linked amputation to an increased risk for death and 5-year rates of death exceeding that of some cancers … read more

Researchers in the United States present their findings on research into new smart bandages capable of real-time monitoring and treating chronic wounds.

Chronic wounds develop when a wound fails to heal within the expected time, which might be a couple of weeks or up to several months. They are often caused by diabetic wounds, pressure ulcers, leg ulcers, arterial ulcers, and malignant wounds. Chronic wounds may lead to severe pain, affecting an individual’s quality of life.

Chronic wounds affect millions
Currently, chronic wounds are a major health concern in the United States as they are affecting over 25 million people. This number will likely increase owing to the aging population and the continuous increase in the number of diabetes and obesity cases. According to the American Professional Wound Care Association, chronic wounds have caused the nation over 30 billion dollars each year … read more

Patients with type 2 diabetes who took liraglutide were at a lower risk for foot amputation, according to a study recently published in Diabetes Care.

Researchers completed a post hoc analysis on data collected during the Liraglutide Effect and Action in Diabetes: Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcome Results (LEADER) trial to determine the effect of liraglutide on rates of diabetes-related foot ulcers in patients who were also at high risk for cardiovascular events. Patients in the LEADER study were randomly assigned to either an intervention arm (n=4668), receiving 1.8 mg of liraglutide a day, or a control arm (n=4672), receiving a placebo. The study continued for 5 years with an average follow-up time of 3.8 years. A diabetes-related foot ulcer was … read more

Patients with type 2 diabetes who took liraglutide were at a lower risk for foot amputation, according to a study recently published in Diabetes Care.

Researchers completed a post hoc analysis on data collected during the Liraglutide Effect and Action in Diabetes: Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcome Results (LEADER) trial to determine the effect of liraglutide on rates of diabetes-related foot ulcers in patients who were also at high risk for cardiovascular events. Patients in the LEADER study were randomly assigned to either an intervention arm (n=4668), receiving 1.8 mg of liraglutide a day, or a control arm (n=4672), receiving a placebo. The study continued for 5 years with an average follow-up time of 3.8 years. A diabetes-related foot ulcer was specified as a medical event of special interest, and all complications related to the ulcer were documented.

read more

University research focusing on building stimuli-responsive material that could release, absorb antibiotics

Researchers at Texas A&M University and the Stevens Institute of Technology are working on the next generation of biomedical materials used to treat chronic wounds, including ulcers and wounds caused by diabetes.

Svetlana Sukhishvili, A&M professor and director of the soft matter facility, and her research partner at Stevens, Hongjun Wang, have conducted experiments alongside their respective teams and combined them to form one study.

“If you have diabetes, for example, your ability to heal wounds may be compromised, and ulcers may occur. What we’re trying to do is give you this bandage-like material that will be able to transform into skin that will help your body overcome the wound and to heal,” said Victoria Albright, a fourth-year doctoral student and lead researcher in the A&M Department of Materials Science and Engineering … read more

The use of mud or wet clay as a topical skin treatment, or poultice, is a common practice in many cultures. In fact, the concept of using mud as medicine goes back to the earliest times.

Now, Arizona State University (ASU) and Mayo Clinic researchers have found that one type of clay, Oregon blue clay, may help fight disease-causing bacteria in wounds, including treatment-resistant bacteria. Their findings appear in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.

“The study is an important advance in understanding how clays, specifically blue clay from Oregon, have shown medicinal properties by attaching to pathogenic bacteria,” says Enriqueta Barrera, a program director in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the research.

The scientists identified certain clays that kill bacteria, including many drug-resistant pathogens.

“Working with Mayo Clinic, we showed that these clays also diminish populations of bacterial biofilms, as well as bacteria common in wounds that are more resistant to drugs,” says biogeochemist Lynda Williams of ASU, a co-author of the study. “The results support our efforts to design new antibacterial drugs using natural clays.” … read more

An interview with Prof. Harding, CBE, and Dr Dixon, PhD, conducted by Alina Shrourou, BSC

What is a hard-to-heal wound?

There are many definitions of hard-to-heal. More conventionally, it’s based on underlying etiology of the wound, but in practice it’s any wound that has not healed within a timely fashion. This is often due to a lack of coordinated care. Many of those patients receive multiple courses of antibiotics and antimicrobial therapy, because clinicians aren’t sure what they’re looking at.

Not all wounds are necessarily hard-to-heal from the beginning, but because of the need for improvements and coordination of care, many of those patients that are seen in clinical practice become hard-to-heal … read more

     Multicenter Clinical Study Of Healing Of Diabetic Foot Ulcers Using EpiFix®

– Study Published in International Wound Journal Reported Statistically Significant Evidence of Healing Compared to Control Group

– Intent-To-Treat EpiFix Treated Patients = 70% vs Control 50%, p=0.0338
– Per-Protocol EpiFix Treated Patients = 81% vs Control 55%, p=0.0093

MARIETTA, Ga., Aug. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — MiMedx Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG), a leading developer and marketer of regenerative and therapeutic biologics, today announced that a new study regarding the use of EpiFix® in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) has been published in the peer-reviewed journal, International Wound Journal.

The paper is entitled “A Confirmatory Study on the Efficacy of Dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane dHACM Allograft in the Management of Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Study of 110 Patients from 14 Wound Clinics.” The paper was authored by: William Tettelbach, MD; Shawn Cazzell, DPM; Alexander M. Reyzelman, DPM; Felix Sigal, DPM; Joseph M Caporusso, DPM; and Patrick S. Agnew, DPM. The electronic publication of the article in International Wound Journal can be found at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/iwj.12976.

This multi-center randomized and controlled trial was led by William Tettelbach, MD, principal investigator and former Executive System Medical Director of Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Services for InterMountain Healthcare. Dr. Tettelbach is now Associate Chief Medical Officer for MiMedx, a position that postdated the completion of the study.

read more

Researchers uncovered a connection between poor sleep and wound healing in type 2 diabetes that could pave the way for new treatments.

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, and it impacts the ability of the body to produce insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels.

One serious complication of diabetes are ulcers that can form from wounds. Feet are one of the most common places of injury. Small wounds that develop on feet can eventually become ulcers … read more

Doctors at JIPMER have begun using a marine resource sourced from shrimps for wound management. Marine resources are used to help patients with chronic wounds such as burns, diabetic foot ulcers, bed sores, infections, trauma and even surgery-related injury.

Jipmer Director, Dr. S Vivekanandam, said the protocol was initiated by the Department of Plastic Surgery. As a forerunner, a Continuing Medical Education (CME) was recently organised on ‘Wound Update-2018’ by the Department of Plastic Surgery to sensitise and to make aware of this technology in wound management.

According to the Director … read more

Publication of Clinical Trial Data from CellerateRX(R) Surgical Activated Collagen(R) Peptides

WNDM Medical Inc. (: WNDM) today announced the publication of a journal article in Orthopedics: ”The Effects of Platelet-Rich Plasma and Activated Collagen on Wound Healing in Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty” by David Evans, BA and Bruce Evans, MD. This study examined whether two wound additives, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and activated collagen (CellerateRX Surgical), would improve postoperative wound healing and reduce complications after total knee or hip replacement surgery.

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, WNDM Medical Inc. (WNDM) has a management team in place with significant healthcare industry experience that is committed to sales growth by providing efficacious products to improve patient outcomes.

Key Points from the Publication

• This was an unsponsored, institutional review board (IRB)-approved, prospective, randomized, single-blinded, controlled study with three cohorts of 30 patients each … read more

As it stands now, we have 1.6 million nursing home residents in the United States; that number is expected to double by the year 2030. Bringing advanced wound care to the long-term care arena is becoming more common throughout the country. Physician-based wound groups can bring their expertise to the patient’s bedside, thereby saving the patient pain during transport to the wound center and lowering costs. However, certain procedures—such as total contact casting and bioengineered skin substitutes—cannot be performed at the bedside because of billing and reimbursement guidelines.

Physician-Based Wound Care Groups: Rationale and Challenges in the Long-Term Care Setting

Utilizing a wound care physician-based group has many advantages in long-term care. Residents build a trusting relationship with their providers who come weekly to assess and treat their wounds. Wound rounds are also the perfect opportunity for the physician and nurse to collaborate. However, providers tend to have somewhat of a learning curve, as well as culture shock stepping into the long-term care arena for the first time. Being competent in wound care is not sufficient to work as a provider in this setting. The long-term care arena is surprisingly different from the hospital. The best way to describe it is, you are on their turf. Nursing homes are under a microscope, and federal regulations must be followed accordingly or facilities are at risk for fines and penalties. Providers must be compliant with the state survey process and associated wound care federal tags … read more

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released an announcement seeking input from stakeholders on a new electronic clinical quality measure under development titled, “Hospital Harm – Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury.”

This measure assesses the proportion of hospitalized patients 18 years and older who develop a new stage 2-4 pressure ulcer, deep tissue injury, unstageable pressure ulcer, or experience worsening of any of the above during their hospitalization.

We read the full description of the measure and provided the following feedback on behalf of APWCA membership … read more

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that in the United States, “…thirty eight percent of adults, and that seventeen percent of children and teens are obese.” It is imperative that the term obesity be differentiated from overweight. Obesity refers to higher than normal body fat, whereas overweight is in reference to an individual weighing more than the standard for height and weight. Although both terms mean that a person’s weight is greater than what is considered healthy for his or her height, obesity has higher negative health-related consequences.

Health care professionals are challenged to manage increasingly complex health issues related to obesity, including complex skin conditions. The increase in stored fat associated with obesity can contribute to a variety of changes in skin physiology and is implicated in a range of dermatologic conditions.2 The skin’s ability to manage transepidermal water loss is altered in the obese population. With increased fat stores the transepidermal water loss is increased, resulting in dryness and delayed skin repair. Additionally, sebaceous channels are blocked, leading to an increase in oils and resulting in acne.2 The thick layers of subcutaneous fat in obese individuals may contribute to profuse sweating (hyperhidrosis) when overheated or with activities. Hyperhidrosis can set the stage for profuse skin damage. Moisture trapped in skin folds coupled with friction as body folds rub together … read more

Grafts in the Treatment of Wounds of Diverse Etiologies

There is evidence in the literature that viable cryopreserved human placental membrane (vCHPM) grafts are effective in treating diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers.

Objective. This case series presents 3 cases of chronic ulcerations — 1 arterial ulcer (AU), 1 pressure ulcer (PU), and 1 recurrence of a pyoderma gangrenosum ulcer (PGU) — that had failed previous courses of standard wound care and were subsequently treated with vCHPM to determine if the treatment is an effective modality for treating wounds of these etiologies.

Materials and Methods. This retrospective review describes 3 cases in which patients with chronic wounds that had failed standard of care treatments for more than 4 weeks were subsequently treated with weekly applications of vCHPM. Each wound area was recorded and photographed on a weekly basis and wound area reduction also was charted weekly.

Results. The PU and AU both reached full closure in 4 and 5 weeks, respectively, without complication. The patient with the PGU achieved 64% closure after 9 applications of vCHPM … read more

Dr. Shane Inlow wrote a two-page article, published in 2004, to help guide clinicians in assessing and planning care for patients with or at risk for diabetic foot ulcers.1 A few years later, clinicians in Northern Canada indicated that one of their problems was communicating effectively with experts in larger centres about their patients’ foot problems. The article by Dr. Inlow came to mind, and Inlow’s 60-Second Diabetic Foot Screen was created to give clinicians a common language and process to perform such an assessment.2 This tool then underwent a validation study that included interrater and intrarater reliability and predictive validity to determine consistency of risk recognition for development of ulceration independent of specific assessor and practice setting.1,3 Four years later, a growing body of work by the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) resulted in a risk-classification tool … read more

A species of ant has become the first known non-human animal to tend the wounds of its fellows. “Nurse” ants lick the wounds of fallen comrades, and this helps them survive.

Matabele ants (Megaponera analis) live dangerous lives. Several times a day, parties of 200-600 soldier ants set out to hunt termites, dragging them from their nests and carrying them home. The termites fight back, and their powerful jaws can administer lethal bites, so Matabele ants frequently lose one or more limbs.

In 2017, Erik Frank, then at the University of Würzburg, Germany reported that Matabele ants routinely carry their wounded back to the nest. This is odd, as social insects usually treat each other as expendable … read more

     ice crystallization

A large number of people around the world suffer from chronic skin wounds each year. Often, chronic wounds such as skin ulcers are seen in older people suffering from circulation disorders and diabetic patients whose skin tissue has a poor capacity of regeneration. Currently, many treatment approaches focus primarily on managing the wounds.

Researchers have now taken a nanotechnology-based tissue engineering approach to accelerate the regeneration and repair of damaged tissues at the wound site by directing cells and tissues to grow towards the target site. Their hope is that this leads to the development of affordable and functional biodegradable wound dressings for accelerated healing of chronic skin wounds by promoting regeneration of local tissues.

“We show that 3D scaffolds with both aligned nanofibers and aligned interconnected macrochannels can be created with various biomacromolecules, including silk fibroin, using a facile guided ice-crystal growth and nanofiber assembly strategy,” Dr. Linpeng Fan, first author of a paper on this work (ACS Nano, “Creating Biomimetic Anisotropic Architectures with Co-Aligned Nanofibers and Macrochannels by Manipulating Ice Crystallization”), tells Nanowerk … read more

13 Sep 2018

This Wounds International webcast focuses on the role of oxygen in wound healing and how topical oxygen therapy can improve oxygenation and, therefore, healing.

In the first presentation, Breda Cullen, Research and Development Director, UK, outlines the vital role that oxygen plays throughout the healing process and the impact that lack of oxygen (hypoxia) can have on the wound. Breda explores the factors that can cause compromised healing and how these can be addressed.
In the next presentation, Hanna Kaufman, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Israel, looks in depth at the clinical evidence and how this can be applied to practice. Hanna identifies the wounds that are suitable for topical oxygen therapy and shares tips for use in practice, drawing on clinical evidence and experience … read more

The diabetes guidelines discussed below are a draft version of a consensus statement to be issued in October at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Berlin, Germany.

Hi. I am Dr Anne Peters, and today I’m going to talk about the new ADA/EASD treatment guidelines for managing patients with type 2 diabetes. First off, my “headline” is that I think these are really good guidelines. Although guiding people is difficult, these guidelines actually begin to guide us in the treatment of our patients with type 2 diabetes …. read more

The devastating impact of chronic wounds has been laid bare as research reveals that hundreds of thousands of patients suffer with pain and immobility for more than a year.

One in ten sufferers is even taking antidepressants to cope, with many more unable to work or leave the house.

About a million patients are undergoing five dressing changes a week, with 90 per cent of those claiming their quality of life is severely affected.

More than 2.8 million Britons are living with a chronic wound, defined as one that does not heal within three months.

But the ‘new normal’ is that patients are affected for eight months … read more

The burden of chronic wounds for the individual, the health system and the whole community is familiar to the readers of this journal. Improving lives and saving money through better wound care is a common theme across this issue, and in the broader wound care activities.

Wounds Australia recognises that to achieve our vision of Quality wound care and prevention for all requires us to inform and engage with a broad audience. During Wound Awareness Week from 15 to 21 July 2018 Wounds Australia will launch our Five Point Plan to Reduce the Burden of Chronic Wounds. Our plan outlines 5 key initiatives to drive the change for best practice wound care for all Australians and reduce the suffering as a result of chronic wounds.

1. Medicare funding for treatment of chronic wounds in primary health care. A dedicated MBS item for treatment of chronic wounds to enable GPs, nurses and allied health professionals to deliver the best practice.

2. Subsidised wound products (dressings and related products) for people experiencing long term wound care. Advanced Wound management products often attract a premium cost. Selecting low cost, modest outcome products is a false economy. Research has shown that the use of less expensive dressings actually increases costs of treating a wound … read more

Venous leg ulcers are among the most common chronic wounds. Treatment is commonly with a limb compression bandage. Previous small, often single‐center, studies have shown that it is possible to predict which wounds are likely to respond to compression therapy. We designed this cohort study using a dataset of over 20,000 individuals with a venous leg ulcer to investigate the accuracy of several prognostic models. Creating complex models using logistic regression, as well as simply counting prognostic factors, we show that initial measures of wound size and duration accurately predict, as measured by area under the receiver operator curve and Brier score, who will heal by the 24th week of care. For example, a wound that is less than 10 cm2 and less than 12 months old at the first visit has a 29 percent chance of not healing by the 24th week of care, while a wound greater than 10 cm2 …. read more

     Review of Evidence and Recommendations

Healthcare systems are being challenged to manage increasing numbers of nonhealing wounds. Wound dressings are one of the first lines of defense in wound management, and numerous options exist. The oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC)/collagen dressing may offer healthcare providers a robust and cost-effective tool for use in a variety of wounds.

Healthcare systems are being challenged to manage increasing numbers of nonhealing wounds. Chronic wounds affect more than 6.5 million people in the United States. This trend has also been observed in other developed countries, such as Denmark (affecting an estimated 1% of the population), Sweden (prevalence: 2.4 per 1000 people), and the United Kingdom (prevalence: 3.55–3.7 per 1000 people).3 As populations increase and age, the incidence of chronic wounds is also forecasted to increase, further stressing healthcare systems and providers.

Wound healing and tissue regeneration are a complicated series of biochemical processes that create an orderly healing cascade with 4 key phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling.6 If this process becomes unbalanced, healing stalls and results in chronic, nonhealing wounds. Acute wounds progress through healing in a predictable time frame, culminating in an epithelialized wound. Chronic wounds start out as acute wounds and, unless their chronic causes are removed, either fail to progress through the wound healing process and (most often) stall in the inflammatory phase, or proceed through the repair process without establishing a sustained anatomic and functional result … read more

From Today’s Wound Clinic offers an informative clinical guide to review and pass along to their patients for purposes of assisting in their education.  Login required to download PDF version

Apps, HydroClean and Honey?

According to PR Newswire, the wound care biologics market is expected to earn 1.42 billion US dollars in 2018. That number is expected to skyrocket by the year 2023, when the market is expected to increase to 2.26 billion US dollars.

That is a jaw-dropping amount of money that we’re spending on wound care. What’s going on?

There are several factors that are driving up the those wound care dollars – primarily diabetic foot ulcers, the aging geriatric population, and a general increase in burn injuries globally.

With the ever-increasing number of wounds requiring advanced wound care, there is new products and practices. Here’s a quick update … read more

     with poor healing of diabetic foot ulcers: A prospective cohort study

We studied 94 consecutive people (69% men) with diabetic foot ulcers (Type 2 diabetes,n=66, Type 1 diabetes, n=28) attending a university hospital foot unit. All participants were screened for obstructive sleep apnoea using the STOP‐BANG questionnaire, with a score ≥4 identifying high risk of obstructive sleep apnoea. The primary outcome was poor diabetic foot ulcer healing, defined as diabetic foot ulcer recurrence (diabetic foot ulcers which healed and re‐ulcerated in same anatomical position) and diabetic foot ulcer persistence (no evidence of healing on clinical examination). All participants were evaluated at 12 months … read more

Innovative approaches can encourage healthy eating and activity in adolescents.

Takeaways:

• Nurses can help their adolescent patients with obesity by encouraging a healthy diet and greater activity
• Smartphone apps for diet and exercise tracking may be an effective tool to help adolescents with obesity lose weight.
• Recommend apps that are inexpensive and have high user ratings for ease of use and dependability.

By Julie Ludwig, MSN, RN, NP-C, and Christine Galluzzi, MSN, RN, APC-BC

Many teens with obesity go on to have obesity as adults. The ramifications of obesity are both physical and psychological, including metabolic conditions, sleep disorders, bullying, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. In addition, adolescents with obesity may experience increased school absenteeism and decreased scholastic performance. The result can be lower quality of life and limited life expectancy.

You can help your adolescent patients with obesity by encouraging a healthy diet and greater activity. (See Help young patients lose weight.) Engaging your patients in this effort may require some innovative interventions, including the use of technology … read more

Imagine a version of the kind of duct tape dispenser you can buy from your local home Home Depot or white-out tape used for correcting a writing error — only instead of rolling out pieces of tape or white-out material it can produce a sheet of skin tissue to cover a wound. That may sound a couple of phasers away from being a Star Trek gadget, but it’s a very real piece of research coming out of the University of Toronto. Engineers there have developed a 3D skin printer that can apparently, “[form] tissue in situ, depositing and setting in place, within two minutes or less.”

According to its creators, the device could serve as a future alternative to regular skin grafts. However, instead of first requiring that a patient has healthy skin removed to be grafted elsewhere, this device can roll out a new layer of “bio ink”-based, 3D-printed skin tissue onto the areas that are required … read more

Imagine rolling a tape dispenser over a wound, leaving behind a strip of cells that will generate new skin.

Researchers at the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Hospital are getting close. They have designed a handheld machine that can create tissue and deposit in about two minutes, with material similar to human skin … read more

     even when tissues are moving

To repair ruptured or pierced organs and tissues, surgeons commonly use staples, sutures and wires to bring and hold the wound edges together so that they can heal. However, these procedures can be difficult to perform in hard-to-reach areas of the body and wounds are often not completely sealed immediately. They also come with the risk that tissues are further damaged and infected. A particular challenge is posed by wounds in fragile or elastic tissues that continuously expand or contract and relax, like the breathing lung, the beating heart and pulsing arteries.

To remedy some of these problems, biomedical engineers have developed a range of surgical sealants that can bond tissues to stop leakages. Yet, “currently available sealants are not suitable for most surgical applications and they do not work alone without the need for suturing or stapling because they lack an optimal combination of elasticity, tissue adhesion and strength. Using our expertise in creating materials for regenerative medicine, we aimed to create an actual fix for this problem in a multi-disciplinary effort with clinicians and bioengineers,”

full article

Cellulose nanofibrils have properties that can improve the characteristics of bio-based 3D-printing pastes. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing a 3D wound care product for monitoring wound condition in hospital care. However, the first commercial nanocellulose applications will be seen in indoor decoration elements, textiles, and the production of mock-ups.

3D printing has proven to be an efficient manufacturing method for complex, customized, and light structures. In addition to thermoplastics, 3D printing materials include metals, ceramics and foodstuffs. The range of biomaterials in 3D paste printing is still fairly limited, since pastes pose unique challenges: their structure must not collapse during printing and the objects manufactured must remain sufficiently strong, rigid or flexible after drying. In 3D biomaterial filaments, however, commercial products already exist … read more

This is an edited, translated transcript of a conversation taped on June 24, 2018, during the 78th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in Orlando, Florida. Prof Ronan Roussel, endocrinologist and diabetologist in Paris, France, spoke with diabetologist Florine Féron and cardiologist Jean-Philippe Kevorkian, both from Hôpital Lariboisière, Paris, about diabetic foot ulcers, amputations, and bedside bone biopsy.

Hello, and welcome to Medscape’s set at the 2018 ADA conference in Orlando. Today our webcast is devoted to diabetic foot. It’s not the most often reported complication of diabetes in abstracts or oral presentations at conferences, but there have been some interesting data at this year’s ADA conference. Joining me to talk about a study they presented during an oral session on diabetic foot are diabetologist Florine Féron and cardiologist Jean-Philippe Kevorkian, both from the Department of Diabetology at Hôpital Lariboisière. … read more

Under ideal circumstances, a break in the skin would stimulate the skin’s own repair processes to seal up the wound and restore normal skin. Clotting factors in the blood would stop the bleeding by forming a scab. The second deepest layer of the skin (the dermis) would produce new cells called fibroblasts. Those fibroblasts would produce collagen and other proteins to seal up the wound and produce a seamless layer of new skin. In some cases, evidence of the wound skin completely disappears in about a week, leaving no scar at all.

For the skin to heal without leaving a scar, healing processes have to occur at exactly the right time in precisely the right degree. However, the body puts a premium on fast healing rather than accurate healing.¹ Prehistoric man had a better chance at survival if a wound healed quickly than if it had healed perfectly. The skin had to close quickly to prevent excessive blood loss and infection. When the skin heals quickly, the skin that covers the wound is structurally different from normal skin. The wound heals, but the scar tissue that remains is usually permanent.

read more

University of Toronto researchers have developed a handheld 3-D skin printer that deposits even layers of skin tissue to cover and heal deep wounds. The team believes it to be the first device that forms tissue in situ, depositing and setting in place, within two minutes or less.

The research, led by Ph.D. student Navid Hakimi under the supervision of Associate Professor Axel Guenther of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and in collaboration with Dr. Marc Jeschke, director of the Ross Tilley Burn Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital and professor of immunology at the Faculty of Medicine, was recently published in the journal Lab on a Chip … read more

AcryMed is touting their latest innovation in wound healing: Dissolved oxygen delivery, via their Oxygenesys system:

Our research shows that these new devices deliver significant amounts of dissolved oxygen, which is the biologically relevant form” said Dr. Bruce Gibbins, Founder and Chief Technical Officer at AcryMed. “We conducted studies on human donor skin to show for the first time that through Oxygenesys TDO, sufficient oxygen penetrates deep into tissues to make up for the oxygen deficiency … read more

Keywords:
Oxygen therapy,
OxyGenesys,
AcryMed,
SilvaSorb,
Chronic wounds

AcryMed’s OxyGenesys for Wound O2 Delivery: Where It Stands in 2025

Original Post Date: August 2, 2018

Updated: June 4, 2025

Update Note: This post has been updated in June 2025 to provide the latest insights on OxyGenesys and to introduce NATROX O₂, a modern alternative for topical oxygen therapy in wound care. We’ve added new details to help you stay informed about the best options for managing chronic wounds.

Oxygen is critical for wound healing, playing a key role in cell growth, infection prevention, and reducing inflammation. However, chronic wounds like diabetic foot ulcers or venous leg ulcers often suffer from hypoxia—low oxygen levels due to poor blood flow. This is where topical oxygen therapies (TOT) come in, delivering oxygen directly to the wound to support healing.

Back in 2018, we covered AcryMed’s OxyGenesys, a promising system for wound oxygen delivery. Let’s revisit OxyGenesys, explore its current status, and compare it to a leading alternative, NATROX O₂, which is making waves in 2025.

OxyGenesys: What We Knew in 2018

OxyGenesys was developed by AcryMed, a Beaverton, Oregon-based company focused on wound care innovations. Dr. Bruce Gibbins, AcryMed’s Founder and Chief Technical Officer, shared that OxyGenesys was designed to deliver “significant amounts of dissolved oxygen, which is the biologically relevant form” for wound healing.

AcryMed’s studies on human donor skin showed that OxyGenesys could penetrate deep into tissues, addressing oxygen deficiencies in chronic wounds. This was a big deal because deeper oxygen delivery could potentially accelerate healing, reduce infection risks, and improve outcomes for patients with hard-to-heal wounds.

At the time, OxyGenesys seemed like a game-changer, especially since topical oxygen therapy was gaining traction as a non-invasive way to treat chronic wounds. But what’s happened since then?

OxyGenesys in 2025: Is It Still Available?

Unfortunately, the trail for OxyGenesys goes cold after 2018. AcryMed was acquired by I-Flow Corporation in 2008 for $25 million, with the goal of expanding I-Flow’s wound care offerings. I-Flow was then bought by Kimberly-Clark Healthcare in 2009, which later became part of Owens & Minor.

Employee reviews on Glassdoor suggest AcryMed was shut down after these acquisitions, with the last update from 2015 mentioning its closure. There’s no recent public data on OxyGenesys—no new studies, product listings, or mentions in Owens & Minor’s current portfolio, which now focuses on brands like HALYARD and MediChoice.

A 2025 post on our site referenced an abdominoplasty trial involving OxyGenesys, but the results were inconclusive, showing no significant healing benefits. However, this trial focused on cosmetic surgery wounds, not chronic wounds, which may not align with OxyGenesys’ intended use.

Without updates from Owens & Minor or AcryMed, it’s likely that OxyGenesys is no longer available, possibly discontinued after AcryMed’s closure. If you have information on its current status, we’d love to hear from you in the comments!

A Modern Alternative: NATROX O₂

While OxyGenesys may no longer be an option, topical oxygen therapy remains a vital tool for wound care, and newer technologies have stepped up. One standout is NATROX O₂, developed by Inotec AMD Ltd., which shares OxyGenesys’ goal of delivering oxygen to wounds but with modern advancements and robust clinical evidence as of 2024.

NATROX O₂ is a portable, battery-powered device that provides continuous topical oxygen therapy (cTOT) at a low flow rate of 11ml/hour. It includes an Oxygen Generator that produces pure, humidified oxygen from atmospheric air, and a sterile Oxygen Delivery System with a wheel-shaped design that conforms to the wound, allowing exudate to pass while optimizing oxygen diffusion.

Unlike older systems, NATROX O₂ is silent, lightweight, and designed for 24/7 use, making it practical for both home and clinical settings. It works with most secondary dressings, adding to its versatility.

The evidence for NATROX O₂ is compelling. A 2021 study showed a 71% greater healing rate for chronic wounds like diabetic foot ulcers compared to standard care alone. Patients also reported a 76% reduction in pain, and wounds saw a 73% greater size reduction.

In 2023, the Wound Healing Society gave cTOT a Level 1 evidence rating, and the American Diabetes Association included it in their guidelines for hard-to-heal wounds. NATROX O₂ has been successfully used in over 30 countries, with case studies showing faster healing, lower infection rates, and even limb salvage in severe cases.

Compared to OxyGenesys, NATROX O₂ likely offers a similar focus on sustained oxygen delivery to combat hypoxia, but with the advantage of being actively available and backed by recent data. While OxyGenesys emphasized deep tissue penetration, NATROX O₂’s continuous flow ensures a steady oxygen gradient, which may achieve similar benefits for chronic wound healing.

Why This Matters for Wound Care

Topical oxygen therapies like OxyGenesys and NATROX O₂ address a critical need in wound care: providing oxygen to wounds that traditional treatments can’t heal. If OxyGenesys is no longer available, NATROX O₂ offers a modern, evidence-based alternative that’s accessible today.

For patients, caregivers, and professionals visiting woundcareweekly.com, exploring options like NATROX O₂ can lead to better outcomes for chronic wounds. Interested in learning more about NATROX O₂? Visit their official site for details on how it works and how to access it for your wound care needs [Note: You can insert an affiliate link here if you join a program with NATROX O₂ or a distributor].

Stay tuned to woundcareweekly.com for more updates on wound care innovations.

This week, it was announced that the owner of a company that provided durable medical equipment had pleaded guilty to a federal charge of health care fraud. The defendant carried out a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $9.4 million in District of Columbia Medicaid payments. 72-year-old Waveney Blackman of Bowie, Maryland pleaded guilty. She is now scheduled to be sentenced on October 18, 2018.

The defendant was the sole owner and CEO of WaveCare Health Services LLC, which was also known as WaveCare Healthcare Services LLC. The company provided durable medical equipment, such as wound care and incontinence supplies to Medicaid beneficiaries and others. The company became a Medicaid provider in 2008. Plea documents show that Blackman devised and carried out a scheme to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicaid for durable medical equipment .. read more

Chronic skin ulcers such as those associated with diabetes are notoriously difficult to treat. As a result, we’ve seen experimental approaches such as spray-on skin, ultrasound band-aids, and silver-laced dressings. Now, scientists are getting very good results using a high-tech lamp.

Developed by a team from Britain’s University of Manchester and Salford Royal NHS Trust, the device has a total of 32 bulbs which emit a combination of infrared, red and ultraviolet light.

Led by Dr. Michael Hughes, the researchers tested it on eight patients suffering from systemic sclerosis, a condition in which the immune system attacks the fingers and toes. Each person received two 15-minute treatments per week, for a period of three weeks … read more

At Trinity University’s Department of Engineering Science, students aren’t just taking the summer off. Many are doing important research about diabetes that they hope will eventually save limbs and lives.

“Everyone is very excited to hear about the work we are doing, and it’s nice to hear that it’s going to impact lives around me,” junior Abbie Jones said.

Abbie and her research partner Adil have been working on a way to help common diabetic wounds heal faster using something called a “hydro-gel wound dressing,” which helps heal from the inside out.

“With a hydro-gel, you can lay more inside and on top of the wound, instead of a Band-Aid, to help with the wound healing process,” said Jones, adding that research like this is needed because the number of diabetics is skyrocketing. “There are a large number of Type 2 diabetics in the U.S. currently, and many of them have the foot ulcers that are common occurrence with diabetes.”

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How much are residents earning in 2018, and are they satisfied with their earnings? How much debt do they have? More than 1900 residents in 29-plus specialties told us how much they earn, as well as the hours they work, how much scut work they have, and what their relationships with attendings, nurses, and PAs are like. All participants were enrolled in US medical resident programs. Average resident salary appears to be trending upward. Over the past 3 years, the average salary has increased by about 7%. The average salary for residents overall is $59,300 … read more