Introduction. Healing chronic wounds: technologic solutions for today and tomorrow

Wound repair is a highly orchestrated, integrated cellular and biochemical response to injury. The process includes coagulation, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. Each component involves a distinct but overlapping set of different cell types with different functions that migrate into the wound site in an orderly fashion. Certain pathophysiologic and metabolic conditions can alter this normal course of events so that healing is impaired or delayed, resulting in nonhealing wounds. Progress has been made in understanding the complex cellular and biochemical processes of the wound healing response, and technologic advances have allowed for new therapies to be developed to effectively treat these wounds.