Can Imaging Put the "Advanced" Back in Advanced Wound Care?

Abstract

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.