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Vasculitic Diseases and Prothrombotic States Contributing to Delayed Healing in Chronic Wounds

  • Wound Care and Healing (A Friedman, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Autoimmune diseases are a common cause of delayed wound healing and should be considered in patients with chronic wounds who do not respond to local wound care or who fail skin grafting in the absence of infection.

Recent Findings

Epidemiologic studies have shown that, of patients with chronic wounds evaluated in specialized wound healing clinics, 20–23 % have autoimmune etiologies for their wounds including vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, pyoderma gangrenosum, and other autoimmune diseases.

Summary

In this article, autoimmune diseases known to be associated with chronic wounds and delayed wound healing are reviewed and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach for patients with chronic wounds, with involvement of rheumatology and dermatology, is highlighted. This approach allows for investigation of underlying systemic disease and improves clinical outcomes for many of these challenging patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, The George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 701 Ross Hall, 2300 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20037, USA

    Victoria K. Shanmugam

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  1. Victoria K. Shanmugam
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Correspondence to Victoria K. Shanmugam.

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Victoria Shanmugam reports grants from the National Institute of Nursing Research during the conduct of the study.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Wound Care and Healing

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Shanmugam, V.K. Vasculitic Diseases and Prothrombotic States Contributing to Delayed Healing in Chronic Wounds. Curr Derm Rep 5, 270–277 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13671-016-0157-2

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