Biofilm and Inflammation
AUGUST IS BIOFILM AND INFLAMMATION MONTH For this month's WoundSource Practice Accelerator series, we are providing education on a variety of topics related to biofilm and inflammation. Scroll below to read this month's white paper and articles, to print out our quick fact sheet, and to sign up for this month's webinar.
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Upcoming Webinar
The Effects of Biofilm and Prolonged Inflammation on the Wound Bed
Thursday, August 26Gregory S. Schultz, PhD
Acute healing wounds progress through four well defined phases of healing: hemostasis (~15 minutes), inflammation (~ 5 to 7 days), repair/proliferation (~14 days) and remodeling (several months). In contrast, chronic skin wounds usually become stalled in a persistent and elevated state of inflammation that leads to highly elevated levels of proteases (matrix metalloproteinases, MMPS, and neutrophil elastase, NE) that degrade proteins that are essential for healing, which converts an acute healing wound into a chronic wound. Objctives:
- Review the four phases of normal acute wound healing and compare to the chronic inflammation that occurs in most chronic wounds
- Contrast important differences between planktonic and biofilm bacteria
- Describe how biofilm bacteria promote a state of prolonged inflammation in chronic wounds
- Explore new point-of-care technologies to detect planktonic and biofilm bacteria
- Assess the effectiveness of topical treatments to eliminate biofilms
- Recognize how to effectively incorporate advanced wound treatments in the “step-down then step-up” concept of optimized biofilm-based wound care
White Paper
How Biofilm and Prolonged Inflammation Affect the Wound Bed
Maintaining optimal wound bed conditions requires inflammation control and infection prevention. This includes preventing the formation of biofilms, which can delay healing. If biofilm prevention is not possible, wound care providers must optimize wound bed conditions to break the cycle of continuous inflammation and promote healing. This white paper begins with the TIMERS (tissue, inflammation, moisture, edge, repair or regeneration, and social factors) framework for wound bed preparation. I...Fact Sheet
Quick Facts - Biofilm and Inflammation
Normal wound healing moves through the phases of hemostasis, inflammation, cell proliferation or repair, and epithelialization within an established time frame. Numerous factors, however, including biofilm formation, can delay or interrupt the healing process and lead to wound chronicity. Evidence shows that wound bed preparation is a critical step to promote healing. Cleansing, debridement, and the use of antimicrobial agents and dressings all aid in disrupting the biofilm and keeping an acute ...Featured Articles
Inflammation and Pain
Wounds typically heal in four sequential but overlapping phases — hemostasis, inflammatory, proliferative and remodeling — ultimately leading to tissue regeneration. Healing sometimes stalls for various reasons, a key one being extensive inflammation, which disrupts the normal cascade of healing and...
Read MoreWhat Is the Wound Telling You?
Wound healing can stall for a number of reasons. Wounds that have not healed or significantly reduced in size after four to six weeks are considered chronic. They are characterized by a multitude of impeding factors including biofilm, excess matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and extracellular matrix ...
Read MoreWhat Are MMPs?
As scientists and researchers have delved deeper into the causes of wounds and wound chronicity, matrix metalloproteinases, or MMPs, have come into sharper focus. MMPs are not just present in chronic wounds — they also play an essential role in acute wounds....
Read MoreHow Inflammation Affects Wound Healing
An injury to the human body initiates a wound healing chain reaction that occurs in four sequential but overlapping phases: hemostasis, inflammatory, proliferative and maturation. This post focuses on the second (inflammatory) phase, which begins after blood flow stops (i.e., hemostasis) and defende...
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Important Terms to Know
