Chronic wounds, a major challenge
Anybody who has personal experience of a chronic ulcer will have encountered the challenges faced by the patient, and the carers and clinicians involved.
We are determined to develop effective solutions to help the many patients whose lives have been impacted by developing a chronic wound.
WHY chronic wounds form?
Chronic wounds typically develop from a relatively minor initial injury. Normally, minor wounds heal naturally through scarring, and for small wounds, the scar can be insignificant, and the skin heals quickly.
However, a wound becomes chronic if the person has some sort of underlying problem which affects their body’s ability to heal, what started as a small injury can gradually get worse rather than better. This progressive development of a wound is called ulceration, and is a process where the body gradually breaks down the wounded tissue.
how do wounds become chronic?
Ulceration, the process through which a wounds becomes chronic, is caused by an interplay of several factors.
reduced perfusion of the tissue with blood, resulting in reduced oxygen and nutrient supply, and reduced metabolic capacity
long-term inflammatory response, resulting in high levels of degradative enzymes and inflammatory molecules, which cause breakdown of tissue
bacterial infection, which consumes non-living tissue, and stimulates an ongoing inflammatory response
The importance of each of these factors varies in different situations, but together result in a continuous cycle of tissue damage.
Different types of ulcer
Pressure ulcers are caused simply by prolonged compression of the skin by underlying bone, preventing blood circulation. This typically occurs from prolonged immobility, so are very commonly in patients who have difficulty moving and are constantly sitting or confined to bed.
Venous leg ulcers occur in the lower leg and are caused by pooling of the blood in the veins of the leg, which results in a failure of circulation in the skin.
Diabetic foot ulcers arise from build-up of sugar-based deposits in the blood capillaries which reduces the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the tissues, and means that the nerves are less responsive to pain. This makes the tissue very vulnerable to minor damage such as a knock or blister.
Chronic wound management and healing
The distressing process of ulceration is a progressive breakdown of the skin over time, which can happen despite attempts at cleaning and dressing the wound. Professional treatment for managing a chronic wound is likely to involve regular re-dressing of the wound by nursing teams. Such care may succeed in keeping the wound clean and free from frank infection, but healing may be slow or fail to develop. However, if physiological factors such as circulation and control of moisture and wound fluid is managed, healing is able to progress.
ProMatrix technology may reverse this tissue breakdown
The problem of ulceration and the underlying problems which drive it can be very challenging for the patient, and very challenging for the body to heal. In many situations, the underlying issues will need to be treated in order for the wound to have a chance to reverse the ulceration and start to heal.
ProMatrix offers a new approach. because the wound is a zone of tissue which is penetrated by the patient’s inflammatory cells, the biological approach of scaffolding creates new physiological space in which the inflammation and repair processes can develop in succession.