Catastrophic wounds

This article summarizes information presented at the Wound Healing Subspecialty Symposium of the Annual Conference of the Canadian Dermatology Association held in Ottawa in June 2012.

To provide continuing medical education on wound healing for dermatologists.

A review of the pertinent literature was performed by the author in order to prepare the lecture and subsequent article.

The review found that necrotizing faciitis, hypertensive ulceration, antiphospholipid syndrome and α1-antitrypsin syndrome are entities that contribute to catastrophic wounds seen in wound healing clinics and in private offices.

It is most important to have a high index of suspicion for these four conditions because early diagnosis can be life-saving with necrotizing faciitis, pain-relieving in ulcers caused by hypertension, and antiphospholipid syndrome, and can result in early treatment in α1-antitrypsin deficiency.