Venous leg ulcers represent a clinical challenge and can impair the quality of life of patients. This study examines impaired wound healing in venous leg ulcers at the molecular level.
Protein expression patterns for biomarkers were analysed in venous leg ulcer wound fluid from 57 patients treated with a protease-modulating polyacrylate wound dressing over 12 weeks and compared this with exudate from 10 acute split-thickness wounds.
Wound healing improved in the venous leg ulcer wounds: 61.4% of the 57 patients with venous leg ulcer achieved a relative wound area reduction of ≥ 40%, and 50.9% of the total 57 patients achieved a relative wound area reduction of ≥ 60%. Within the first 14 days.
Overall, significant biomarker changes occurred in the first 14 days before a clinically robust healing response in the venous leg ulcer cohort.
