Increased Need for Wound Healing Center

Jeff Cameron, M.D., Medical Director, Wound Healing Center, Columbia St. Mary’s

Posted: April 1, 2007

Wound care is a growing specialty, particularly with an aging population. The Wound Healing Center at Lakeside Commons, 11725 N. Port Washington Rd., was established to meet the needs of people residing in and around Ozaukee County. Less than one-mile south of Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Ozaukee, it is a satellite of our center in Milwaukee and staffed by the same expert physicians.

Who requires wound care?
Often, wound-care patients fall into one of three broad categories: diabetics and persons with arterial disease; people with venous stasis; and those with unrelieved pressure points, such as wheelchair-bound elderly patients.

Diabetics often have vascular problems which can limit the flow of oxygen to extremities. Venous stasis means that blood tends to pool in the legs, which happens to people who spend a lot of time on their feet or in positions that reduce blood flow. Pressure points are common on the feet, elbows and buttocks.

In any of these situations, as well as countless others, open wounds and ulcers may form and become limb-threatening health risks.

The Wound Healing Center has proven to be useful to another group: trauma patients, including those who suffer a motor vehicle accident, an accident at work, or a crushed limb.
At the heart of the center
The Wound Healing Center provides a highly trained staff of physicians, nurses, and technologists, all working as a team in one place. The center also includes a staff of specialists trained in the use of hyperbaric oxygen, which is used in the center’s two hyperbaric chambers.

The team works together to treat diabetic ulcers, skin lacerations, surgical wounds, traumatic injuries and other sores that may have initially only required a band-aid, but then wouldn’t heal.

In addition to the expertise of its staff, the Wound Healing Center is part of a consortium of wound healing facilities across the United States. We are able to conduct electronic consultations and phone calls to discuss difficult cases with professionals throughout the country, which allows us to have a center with a national level of expertise.

It also provides us with the latest product information. There are literally thousands of new products on the market to treat wounds. Some are very expensive and others haven’t been thoroughly tested. By sharing information with other specialists nationwide, we can help our patients choose the most effective, and most cost-efficient, approach to wound care.

The newest, most advanced treatment
Most wound treatment is done on a weekly basis and the duration may last anywhere from several treatments to 30 or 40 visits. Some of the technology employed at the Wound Healing Center includes:

Apligraf
Venous ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers can be treated with apligraf, which is created as a graft from the foreskin from newborns’ circumcisions. Although a relatively new procedure, excellent results have been seen at the Center.

Hyperbaric oxygen
A patient is placed in a tank where they breathe 100 percent oxygen under pressure into their lungs. Their blood vessels carry that hyper-oxygenated blood to ulcers on their extremities where the oxygen kills bacteria, reduces swelling and stimulates new blood vessel growth. The healing affects of oxygen continue even after the patient is out of the tank.

Oasis graft
This treatment uses freeze-dried swine intestine, which is high in collagen, to stimulate new cell growth. Collagen is one of the building blocks of healing.

Regranex gel
Prescription Regranex is a synthetically produced growth hormone that stimulates cells in the wound to divide, which helps healing. It has been specifically tested in diabetics and is FDA approved for use in treating diabetic ulcers.

An emphasis on prevention
The Wound Healing Center not only treats existing wounds, but also focuses on preventive foot care, especially for patients with diabetes. If a diabetic patient is seen at the clinic for an ulcer on the calf, he or she will also have both feet examined because the number one cause of amputation in diabetics is an ulcer that begins on the foot.

Patients with diabetes receive recommendations on how to prevent foot ulcers through proper nail care, timely treatment of calluses and proper care of hammertoes or fallen arches. Some patients may be referred to a podiatrist or may need special foot wear to help avoid the development of foot ulcers. We can perform simple sensation tests to determine a patient’s risk level and then make recommendations. Ultimately, we are in the business of preventing amputations.

Most patients are referred by their primary care physician or specialists. Others are self-referred or learn about us from diabetes care seminars. If you have questions or would like to see a Wound Healing Center physician at Lakeside Commons or in Milwaukee, call 414-964-4325.

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