Chapter 4 - Wound healing and nanotechnology: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

The hard-to-heal or nonhealing nature of chronic wounds imposes significant financial and health-related burdens on patients and the healthcare systems. The burgeoning incidence of chronic wounds due to the growing segment of the older population and the augment of people afflicted with obesity, diabetes, and other pathologies has resulted in higher mortality and morbidity among these patients. On the other hand, conventional chronic wound therapies have been proved to be inadequate and far from satisfactory, which necessitates the development of new strategies and novel wound products for the treatment and management of these wounds. Among different medical-oriented technologies, cutting-edge nanotechnology offers promising and unique characteristics in addressing specific problems related to wound repair mechanisms. With the extended knowledge on the biological mechanisms of different kinds of wounds and their normal healing process, nanotechnology-driven approaches provide unprecedented opportunities to design effective wound-based products and strategies to overcome the limitations of the current medical treatments and enhance their clinical outcomes.