Reviewing medical imaging in wound care
There’s no doubt that while medical imaging is standard and routine in most medical fields (e.g. cardiology, oncology, gynecology, etc.), it is far behind in the field of wound care. The recent editorial in Advances in Wound Care highlights the key points of four recently published articles on wound diagnostics and imaging advances.
Topics covered include an overview of optical imaging technologies being developed for wound care, the complexity of assessing burns and the latest imaging techniques being evaluated in an effort to improve assessment and tracking, the challenges of deep tissue imaging and advances in optical micrography imaging to quantify microvasculature throughout the course of healing, and driving technological advancements to achieve significant improvements in wound care.
Abstract Overview:
An effective, scientifically validated, diagnostic tool helps clinicians make better, timely, and more objective medical decisions in the care of their patients. Today, the need for such tools is especially urgent in the field of wound care where patient-centric care is the goal, under ever tightening clinical budget constraints. In an era of countless ‘innovative’ treatment options, that is, advanced dressings, negative pressure devices, and various debridement instruments available to the wound care clinical team, one area that has arguably languished in the past decade has been innovation in wound diagnostics. Whereas medical imaging is a mainstay in the diagnostic toolkit across many other medical fields (oncology, neurology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, etc.), the field of wound care has yet to realize the full potential that advances in imaging technologies have to offer the clinician. In this issue, the first of a series in wound imaging and diagnostics, four articles have been assembled, highlighting some of the recent advances in wound imaging technologies.
