Chronic wounds – Recommendations for diagnostics and therapy

Chronic wounds are a common problem with high requirements for treating physicians, home carers and the patient himself. Frequent recurrence, long lasting therapy duration, high material costs and negative impact on quality of life represent some of the challenges a wound carer is confronted with. The objective of this review is to discuss the diagnostic thoughts and algorithms which are essential when treating patients with chronic wounds, especially chronic leg ulcers. Therapeutic steps in wound care require clear diagnostic investigations to determine causative aetiological factors for chronic wounds and their underlying diseases. Only by knowing the aetiology of an ulcer, the appropriate therapeutic step can be initiated.Diagnostic considerations and a short overview of new and current therapeutic approaches are given in this review.