Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Chronic wound - Types

Chronic wound - Types: Encyclopedia II - Chronic wound - Types

The vast majority of chronic wounds can be classified into three categories: venous, diabetic, and pressure ulcers (Mustoe, 2004; Moreo, 2005) CW. A small number of wounds that do not fall into these categories may be due to causes such as radiation poisoning or ischemia (Mustoe, 2004). Chronic wound - Venous ulcers. Venous ulcers, which usually occur in the legs, exist in about 70% to 90% of chronic wounds (Snyder, 2005) and mostly affect the elderly. They are thought to be due to venous hypertension caus ...

Chronic wound: Encyclopedia II - Chronic wound - Types

Chronic wound - Types

Chronic wound - Venous ulcers

Venous ulcers, which usually occur in the legs, exist in about 70% to 90% of chronic wounds (Snyder, 2005) and mostly affect the elderly. They are thought to be due to venous hypertension caused by improper function of valves that exist in the veins which exist to prevent backflow of blood. Ischemia results and, combined with reperfusion injury, causes the tissue damage that leads to the wounds.

Chronic wound - Diabetic ulcers

Another major cause of chronic wounds, diabetes, is increasing in prevalence (Velander et al., 2004). Diabetics have a 15% higher risk for amputation than the general population (Snyder, 2005) due to chronic ulcers. Diabetes causes neuropathy, which inhibits the perception of pain (Snyder, 2005). Thus patients may not initially notice small wounds to legs and feet, and thus may fail to prevent infection and repeated injury (Moreo, 2005). Further, diabetes causes immune compromise (Snyder, 2005) and damage to small blood vessels, preventing adequate oxygenation of tissue, which can cause chronic wounds (Moreo, 2005). Pressure also plays a role in the formation of diabetic ulcers (Mustoe, 2004).

Chronic wound - Pressure ulcers

Another leading type of chronic wounds is pressure ulcers (Supp and Boyce, 2005), which usually occur in people with conditions such as paralysis that inhibit movement on areas that press against bones such as the heels, shoulder blades, and sacrum (Thomas et al., 2005; Wilhelmi and Neumeister, 2005). Pressure ulcers are caused by ischemia that occurs when pressure on the tissue is greater than the pressure in capillaries, and thus restricts blood flow into the area (Supp and Boyce, 2005; Wilhelmi and Neumeister, 2005). Muscle tissue, which needs more oxygen and nutrients than skin does, shows the worst effects from prolonged pressure (Wilhelmi and Neumeister, 2005). As in other chronic ulcers, reperfusion injury damages tissue (Mustoe, 2004).