Pressure ulcers and other chronic wounds in patients with and patients without cancer: a retrospective, comparative analysis of healing patterns

Abstract

Knowledge about wound healing patterns in patients with cancer is limited. To compare wound healing outcomes and patterns between persons with and persons without a diagnosis of cancer, a retrospective study was conducted using a convenience sample drawn from international chronic wound databases containing almost 36,000 standardized wound assessments (consisting of 13 anatomical wound characteristics). Based on the recorded chronic wound profiles, 18 patients who had cancer were matched with 18 who did not have cancer; their first assessment wound profiles were completely identical. It was hypothesized that, compared to patients without cancer, patients with cancer have 1) a greater percentage of non-healing wounds, 2) wounds that take longer to heal, and 3) more comorbidities that can delay healing. After a maximum treatment period of 24 weeks, 44% of wounds in patients with cancer compared to 78% of wounds in patients without cancer were healed (P = .018). Wounds that healed did so at the same pace regardless of cancer status (approximately 55 days [+/-41] for patients with cancer and 59 days [+/-48] for patients without cancer). Patients with cancer had more comorbidities and other factors that could impede wound healing [mean 4.72 (+/-1.09)] than patients without cancer [mean 1.50 (+/-0.39)]. Differential healing patterns between the two groups after 8 weeks suggest that alternative treatment and management practices may be warranted for cancer patients with non-healing wounds.