title: Healing times and prediction of wound healing in neuropathic diabetic foot ulcers: a prospective study.
abstract: Time line of wound healing and prediction of healing times in diabetic foot ulcers is an important issue. Usually, the percentage of wounds healed within a defined period is used for characterization of wound healing. R=sqrtA/pi (R, radius; A, planimetric wound area; pi, constant 3.14), and the wound radius reduction was 0.39 mm/week which was previously established. The initial average wound area was 96.9+/-13.1 mm2 (mean+/-SEM), and 3.61+/-1.6 mm 2 after ten weeks with an average healing time of 75.9 (95 %-CI 71-81) days. Using the equation mentioned above and the calculated weekly wound radius reduction, the predicted healing time in the test group was 86.9 (95 %-CI 73-101) days. The predicted and the observed healing times were significantly correlated with each other (r=0.55, p=0.0002). Providing standard care, the time needed for wound healing can reliably be predicted in neuropathic diabetic foot ulcers. This may be a useful tool in daily clinical practice to predict wound healing and recognize ulcers who do not respond adequately to the treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department for Internal Medicine, EVK Bethesda of Duisburg, Teaching Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Germany. Stefan.Zimmy@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zimny
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pfohl
mesh_terms: D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017719:Diabetic Foot / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012775:Shoes; D013997:Time Factors; D016474:Weight-Bearing; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*