| Popis: |
Free to read on publisher website In Australia, it is estimated that $2.85 billion is spent annually on wound care. As well as putting a significant strain on the health care system, these wounds decrease patient quality of life, and factors, such as immobility and isolation, can lead to depression. The real impact of these wounds is often masked by co-morbidities such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Current treatments available are not a ‘fix all’ solution, and many chronic wounds persist for months, even years, with a major limb amputation required every 30 seconds, amounting to 2500 amputations a day. Understanding how and why these wounds form, and why some heal, and others persist for years is necessary to improve the lives of these patients. Here we discuss, firstly,how co-morbidities alter the wound healing process at a cellular level to promote wound chronicity in patients and how therapies have developed from this information. Then we discuss the impact on the chronicity of wounds that factors, such as wound infection, the patient’s own social context and the health professional may have. |
