Journal of wound care
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Journal of wound care · Jun 2020
ReviewPrevention of pressure ulcers among individuals cared for in the prone position: lessons for the COVID-19 emergency.
Pressure ulcers (PUs) involve the destruction of skin and underlying tissue due to prolonged pressure and shear forces. These ulcers are painful and significantly reduce a person's quality of life. PUs are also expensive to manage and impact negatively on the achievement of cost-effective, efficient care delivery. ⋯ Given the importance of PU prevention in this cohort of patients, adopting a focused prevention strategy, including skin assessment and care, offloading and pressure redistribution, and dressings for prevention may contribute to a reduction in the incidence and prevalence of these largely preventable wounds.
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Journal of wound care · Oct 2020
Meta AnalysisBiological versus non-biological dressings in the management of split-thickness skin-graft donor sites: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
There are currently no definitive guidelines regarding the management of split-thickness skin-graft (STSG) donor sites. The literature reports biological and non-biological dressings as the two main groups; however, there is no conclusive evidence regarding the ideal type. A systematic review and meta-analysis of existing clinical trials was performed to compare biological and non-biological dressings in managing STSG donor sites. ⋯ The rate of epithelialisation and wound healing is greater for STSG donor sites when treated with biological dressings, but they offer no difference in terms of reducing pain, limiting infection or exudation.
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Journal of wound care · Nov 2019
Review Case ReportsPost-traumatic necrotising fasciitis of the breast: a case study with literature review.
Necrotising fasciitis is a rare infection of the skin and underlying soft tissue. It primarily involves the extremities and rarely the breast. Primary necrotising fasciitis of the breast in a non-lactating, healthy female is rarer still. ⋯ The patient was managed successfully with serial debridement and negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). To our knowledge only 19 such cases have been reported in the indexed literature so far. This is also the eighth case globally of primary necrotising fasciitis of the breast in a non-lactating female without any associated immunosuppression, which is the basis of reporting this case.
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Journal of wound care · Jan 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyRegenerated oxidised cellulose versus calcium alginate in controlling bleeding from malignant breast cancer wounds: randomised control trial study protocol.
Malignant wounds due to breast cancer can present with recurrent episodes of bleeding in the tumour tissue. This study will compare the efficacy of a calcium alginate dressing (Biatain, Coloplast A/S, Denmark) and a regenerated oxidised cellulose dressing (Surgicel, Ethicon, LLC, Puerto Rico). ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effectiveness of haemostatic products in malignant wounds. This type of wound is poorly explored in the literature and, among its signs and symptoms, bleeding is poorly studied. The completion of this study will provide a more robust rationale for clinical decision-making related to the control of bleeding in malignant breast cancer wounds in the context of evidence-based nursing practices.
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Journal of wound care · May 2020
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in preventing mechanical ventilation in COVID-19 patients: a retrospective case series.
A pandemic afflicts the entire world. The highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and rapidly spread across the entire globe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)has infected more than two million people worldwide, causing over 160,000 deaths. Patients with COVID-19 disease present with a wide array of symptoms, ranging from mild flu-like complaints to life threatening pulmonary and cardiac complications. Older people and patients with underlying disease have an increased risk of developing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) requiring mechanical ventilation. Once intubated, mortality increases exponentially. A number of pharmacologic regimens, including hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin, antiviral therapy (eg, remdesevir), and anti-IL-6 agents (e.g., toclizumab), have been highlighted by investigators over the course of the pandemic, based on the therapy's potential to interrupt the viral life-cycle of SARS-CoV-2 or preventing cytokine storm. At present, there have been no conclusive series of reproducible randomised clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of any one drug or therapy for COVID-19. ⋯ This small sample of patients exhibited dramatic improvement with HBOT. Most importantly, HBOT potentially prevented the need for mechanical ventilation. Larger studies are likely to define the role of HBOT in the treatment of this novel disease.