Lately I have been working on my project for our Lunch&Learn at St. E's that will take place the week before our Thanksgiving Break. I have decided to do mine on wound VACS (vacuum assisted closure therapy).
It is a relatively new procedure that is used in many cases; the one that we see the most at St. E's is pressure ulcers. Many people used to die from these wounds they would get (which are essentially extremely bad and open wound bed sores) while they were staying in the hospital. This procedure actually uses vacuum technology to pull and consistently clean an open wound. The vacuum mechanism also pulls the wound edges back together allow it to not only heal when it normally wouldn't heal on its own; but it also heals the wound faster. Nutrition is a very important aspect of wound healing as many people have come to realize. (CNN named dietitians #3 in jobs saving the world!!!) For example, today I saw an interesting case which is a prime example how protein contributes to wound healing.
I was doing research on a patient with the dietitian I was following and we noticed that the patient who had cirrhosis had a laparotomy (a large incision in the abdomen area) and the incision from this surgery would not heal. When we looked at the patients medications, she was taking Lactulose which is used primarily to neutralize ammonia levels in the body. The high ammonia levels are associated with the liver malfunctioning and can lead to disturbances in brain functioning (encephalopathy). Therefore, the patient had been on a protein restricting diet because protein contributes to ammonia levels in the brain. Since her protein levels had been restricted, the wound would not heal because of the importance of protein in wound healing.
It always comes back to nutrition!
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