Current wound healing procedures and potential care

• Currently available wound dressings are mainly made of natural polymeric materials.
• The carriers for the growth factors should be able to deliver them in a sustained manner.
• New wound healing strategies are emerging including siRNA delivery and targeting mRNA molecules.
• Stem cells derived from various tissues have a potential to heal acute and chronic wounds.
• Sensors and actuators are being investigated to improve the management of wound healing.

In this review, we describe current and future potential wound healing treatments for acute and chronic wounds. The current wound healing approaches are based on autografts, allografts, and cultured epithelial autografts, and wound dressings based on biocompatible and biodegradable polymers. The Food and Drug Administration approved wound healing dressings based on several polymers including collagen, silicon, chitosan, and hyaluronic acid. The new potential therapeutic intervention for wound healing includes sustained delivery of growth factors, and siRNA delivery, targeting microRNA, and stem cell therapy. In addition, environment sensors can also potentially utilize to monitor and manage microenvironment at wound site. Sensors use optical, odor, pH, and hydration sensors to detect such characteristics as uric acid level, pH, protease level, and infection — all in the hopes of early detection of complications.