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Updated: Jun 17, 2026
04:58
Collecting And Measuring Wound Exudate Biochemical Mediators In Surgical Wounds
Published on: October 20, 2012
Do nutritional markers in wound fluid reflect pressure ulcer status?
Shinji Iizaka1, Hiromi Sanada, Takeo Minematsu
1Department of Gerontological Nursing/ Wound Care Management, Division of Health Sciences and Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. iizaka-tky@umin.ac.jp
Summary
Nutritional markers in wound fluid, like albumin and glucose, can objectively assess pressure ulcer (PU) healing status. The wound fluid to serum ratio offers insights into inflammation, infection, and granulation in PUs.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Wound Healing
- Clinical Nutrition
Background:
- Assessing pressure ulcers (PUs) in clinical settings is subjective and requires expertise.
- Objective markers are needed for accurate PU assessment and management.
- Nutritional markers in wound fluid may provide objective indicators of PU status.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate nutritional markers in wound fluid as objective tools for pressure ulcer (PU) assessment.
- To investigate if wound fluid markers reflect PU healing phase, infection, and granulation.
- To analyze these markers after adjusting for serum values.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 28 patients with 32 full-thickness PUs.
- Measured albumin, total protein, glucose, and zinc concentrations in wound fluid.
- Assessed PU status via clinical signs for healing phases/infection and hydroxyproline for granulation.
Main Results:
- Wound fluid/serum albumin ratio was lower in the inflammatory phase than the proliferative phase (p=0.020).
- Infected wound fluid showed lower glucose levels compared to non-infected fluid (intraindividual comparison).
- Wound fluid/serum glucose ratio negatively correlated with hydroxyproline (p=0.007); wound fluid zinc positively correlated (p=0.028) in the proliferative phase.
Conclusions:
- Nutritional markers in wound fluid, particularly the wound fluid/serum ratio, may serve as useful objective indicators of local pressure ulcer status.
- These markers can potentially differentiate healing phases and indicate infection.
- Further research can validate these findings for clinical application in PU management.
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