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Case Study/Series
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Restarting the wound healing process in chronic wounds by reduction of the pH value in combination with topical wound nutrition First Author: Thomas Riesinger Authors: Thomas Eberlein, PhD., Jochen Kasch, Ioannis Tsioras, Wound healing in chronic wounds is a serious challenge for today's wound management. The positive effect of a low pH zinc/iron solution (ZIS) on the healing of acute wounds has successfully been demonstrated recently in in-vitro and in in vivo animal and human studies. The pH-value in wounds is a significant factor for the normal wound healing cascade and the reduction of bacterial growth, especially for typical pathogens. The pH value in acute wounds during wound healing phase I (exudation) is below 4, during proliferation phase above 4 and of intact skin approximately 5,5. The wound healing process in acute wounds from an injury to a healed wound is characterized by an acidic environment. In contrast to this the pH value of chronic non-healing wounds is above 7 and is characterized by an alkaline environment. In this study we applied ZIS to 11 Patients, 6 chronic leg ulcers and 5 pressure ulcers. ZIS was applied on a cleaned wound bed (surgical or mechanical) from day 1 to 6 in a liquid formulation (pH 2,9) and from day 7 till wound closure in a white gel formulation (pH 3,3). All wounds showed clearly the restart of the wound healing cascade, significantly improvement of the wound surface and the surrounding wound area and a stimulation of granulation tissue formation. This datas show the necessity of the right acidic environment according to other peri-wound conditions in moist environment and in combination with the topical nutrition for the healing of chronic wounds. |
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