Wound Care Treatment at Hackensack Meridian Health
Wound Care Treatment Options
Bio-engineered Skin Grafting
A bio-engineered skin graft is an alternative to a skin graft taken from the patient’s body. A skin substitute is made in a lab and helps wounds heal by allowing new skin growth, especially for difficult-to-heal wounds and ulcers.
Compression Therapy
Compression therapy involves the patient wearing stockings or socks that are specifically designed to increase circulation in the legs and support the veins.
Debridement
Debridement is the process of removing unhealthy or dead tissue from a wound to help improve wound healing. It creates a clean wound to decrease scarring and helps chronic wounds to heal properly. In some cases, advanced wound healing techniques and skin substitutes will be placed on the wound to minimize scarring and help with healing. Other treatment options for debridement include:
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO)
Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) Therapy is a non-invasive treatment in which the patient breathes pure oxygen while inside a pressurized chamber. The air pressure inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber is about two and a half times greater than the normal pressure in the atmosphere. This “hyperbaric” (or high pressure) dose of oxygen helps the blood carry more oxygen to organs and connective tissues, which promotes wound healing. HBO can be the primary treatment for wound healing or it can be used in combination with other treatments. This comfortable and painless therapy is an outpatient procedure that requires daily treatment of two-hour sessions for approximately six to eight weeks.
Pulse Volume Recordings (PVRs)
A PVR uses a blood pressure cuff and handheld ultrasound device to determine the presence of blockages in the arteries. The ultrasound captures sound waves to measure the speed and flow of blood.
Epidermal Autograft (AKA Skin Grafting)
An epidermal autograft is when tissue is grown from the patient’s own skin cells and is placed on the patient’s own body.
Vacuum Assisted Wound Closure Therapy
VAC therapy uses a device that decreases the air pressure on a wound, allowing it to heal more quickly.
Vascular and Arterial Workups/Doppler Studies
Doppler studies are tests that monitor the blood flow in a patient’s veins and arteries using a Doppler ultrasound device. They can also find areas of abnormal blood flow, which may indicate a blockage.
Wound Cleansing and Advanced Dressing Selection
Advanced products for wound healing are designed to treat more complex wounds and are usually prescribed by your physician
