Chronic wounds, regardless of the source, are wounds that have not healed 50 percent with four weeks of normal care and should be considered for referral to a specialized wound care program.
Acute wounds, such as traumatic injuries, cuts, scrapes and surgical incisions (particularly in large abdominal surgeries), as well as pressure ulcers, diabetic ulcers, venous ulcers, arterial ulcers, radiation wounds, abdominal stomas, and other hard-to-heal wounds also may benefit from specialized wound care modalities.
Chronic, non-healing wounds often present with conditions such as:
- Air or gas embolism
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Clostridial myositis and myonecrosis (gas gangrene)
- Crush injury, compartment syndrome and other acute traumatic ischemias
- Decompression sickness
- Arterial insufficiencies
- Severe anemia
- Intracranial abscess
- Necrotizing soft tissue infections
- Osteomyelitis (refractory)
- Delayed radiation injury (soft tissue and bony necrosis)
- Compromised grafts and flaps
- Acute thermal burn injury
- Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss
