title: Wound healing primer.
abstract: Surgeons often care for patients with conditions of abnormal wound healing, which include conditions of excessive wound healing, such as fibrosis, adhesions, and contractures, as well as conditions of inadequate wound healing, such as chronic nonhealing ulcers, recurrent hernias, and wound dehiscences. Despite many recent advances in the field, which have highlighted the importance of adjunct therapies in maximizing the healing potential, conditions of abnormal wound healing continue to cause significant cost, morbidity, and mortality. To understand how conditions of abnormal wound healing can be corrected, it is important to first understand the basic principles of wound healing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, West Hospital, 16th Floor, West Wing, 1200 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23298-0645, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Diegelmann
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*