Abstract

JIMENEZ, César Eduardo. Advanced methods in the treatment of acute and chronics wounds. rev. colomb. cir. [online]. 2008, vol.23, n.3, pp.146-155. ISSN 2011-7582.

Acute and complicated wounds, as well as chronic wounds, have been a serious problem in medical practice. Unfortunately many of these lesions do not receive adequate care, which is often empirical. The high costs of medical care and the poor general condition of the patients that suffer such wounds, have led to the development over the past 20 years of novel technologies that permit prompt, optimal and cost-effective healing; thus, we now have the humid environment, upon which new specialized dressings and bandages have been developed. Advancement in these new technologies has been gigantic; however our country still registers resistance to their use, in spite of the available supportive scientific evidence. It becomes important that surgeons learn about this therapeutic armamentarium so that they approach such wounds in a holistic manner and not as mere isolated lesions of chronic patients. Furthermore, the new generations of surgeons should have training in the use of these dressings during their surgical education, as it already occurs in North America and Europe, and even consider this field as a subspecialty of surgical care. There are various types of dressings, from those that imply low level of technology (gauze) to the advanced type that utilizes active dressings that interact with the wound microenvironment, such as hydrocolloids, alginates, collagen, and others.

Keywords : skin ulcer; pressure ulcer; varicose ulcer; wound healing; negative-pressure wound therapy.

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