David T. Rovee Howard I. Maibach The epidermis in wound healing 2003 CRC Press Boca Raton, Florida 408 pages. $159.95. ISBN 0-84931-561-1

Abstract

Thirty years ago, the editors of this book published a book entitled Epidermal Wound Healing, a collection of papers focusing primarily on the epidermis and written by leaders in the field to present an interdisciplinary view of various aspects of wound healing. Many of the so-called “advanced wound therapies” can be traced back to the ideas presented by the original group of contributors to Epidermal Wound Healing. It is now accepted that moist wound healing can enhance keratinocyte migration and facilitate wound healing. Growth factors and tissue-engineered skin are now available commercially to treat wounds. The current book updates previous information as well as presenting new developments in epidermal wound healing. The book is divided into 5 parts. Part I is devoted to cellular and biochemical issues in wound healing, including a detailed section on human skin equivalent models and their fabrication techniques. There is enough detail given for a student to grow skin equivalents in a laboratory, and this chapter is a very useful reference text. The other chapters in part I cover epidermal repair and the chronic wound, and the biochemistry of epidermal healing. Part II discusses the importance of the local environment in healing, with interesting chapters on the development of moist wound healing, including occlusive and semipermeable membranes. Part III is devoted to quantifying repair in the epidermis and provides an excellent overview of different animal and human models of healing, as well as the use of noninvasive physical measures to assess wound healing. Part IV of the book discusses physical and clinical factors affecting wound repair, including wound microbiology, the role of oxygen in healing, nutritional factors, and wound dressings. The final section offers an impressive overview of new developments and approaches to wounds, including gene therapy, wound bed preparation, and active treatments for acute and chronic wounds. The contents of the book are broad ranging, from cellular and biochemical issues in wound healing, the local environment, methods of assessing wound repair and physical/chemical factors affecting wound repair, to new approaches to understanding and treating wounds, including gene therapy and skin substitutes. This book is of great interest for physicians interested in wound repair as well as for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who may be interested in starting a research project in the wound healing arena. There have been many advances in the wound healing field over the past 30 years, and this book helps to summarize the progress in understanding acute and chronic wounds and complexities of the healing process as it has evolved over this time. It is interesting to note how many therapies which were novel ideas in the original book are now used in clinical practice 30 years later.