Wound Healing Devices Brief Vignettes

Abstract

Significance: The demand for wound care therapies is increasing. New wound care products and devices are marketed at a dizzying rate. Practitioners must make informed decisions about the use of medical devices for wound healing therapy. This paper provides updated evidence and recommendations based on a review of recent publications. Recent Advances: The published literature on the use of medical devices for wound healing continues to support the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, negative pressure wound therapy, and most recently electrical stimulation. Critical Issue: To inform wound healing practitioners of the evidence for or against the use of medical devices for wound healing. This information will aid the practitioner in deciding which technology should be accepted or rejected for clinical use. Future Directions: To produce high quality, randomized controlled trials or acquire outcome-based registry databases to further test and improve the knowledge base as it relates to the use of medical devices in wound care.

George A. Perdrizet, MD, PhD, FACS

Figure 1.

Mechanical mechanisms of negative pressure wound therapy. Provided by KCI Corp. To see this illustration in color, the reader is referred to the web version of this article at www.liebertpub.com/wound