title: Wound samples: moving towards a standardised method of collection and analysis.
abstract: Chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers, impact the lives of millions of people worldwide. These types of wounds represent a significant physical, social and financial burden to both patients and health care systems. Wound care has made great progress in recent years as a result of the critical research performed in academic, clinical and industrial settings. However, there has been relatively little translation of basic research discoveries into novel and effective treatments. One underlying reason for this paucity may be inconsistency in the methods of wound analysis and sample collection, resulting in the inability of researchers to accurately characterise the healing process and compare results from different studies. This review examines the various types of analytical methods being used in wound research today with emphasis on sampling techniques, processing and storage, and the findings call forth the wound care research community to standardise its approach to wound analysis in order to yield more robust and comparable data sets.
authors.affiliation: Research & Development, Smith & Nephew, Inc., Fort Worth, TX, USA. sarah.ramsay@smith-nephew.com.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramsay
authors.affiliation: Center of Innovation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (CINDRR), North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.|VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Research Service, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Cell & Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nanney
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Florida Medical School, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schultz
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Biopsy; Research; Review; Standardisation; Swab; Wound fluid; Wounds