Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 18, 2025
Mouse Model of Pressure Ulcers After Spinal Cord Injury
Published on: March 9, 2019
Practice Dilemmas: Conditions That Mimic Pressure Ulcers/Injuries- To Be or Not To Be?
Melania Howell1, Salomé Loera1, Anthony Tickner2
1Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, Maryland.
Background:
Pressure ulcers/injuries (PU/Is) negatively affect patients by causing pain and increasing morbidity and mortality risks. Care teams have a heightened sense of awareness of the condition and may feel confident in their ability to appropriately identify and manage PU/Is, but the potential for, and consequences of, a misdiagnosis always should be considered.
Purpose:
The purpose of this compendium is to describe and illustrate conditions that may mimic PU/Is.
Methods:
Advanced practice wound care nurses were asked to identify and describe conditions that may mimic PU/Is. Permission was obtained from all patients to use their cases and photos in this article.
Results:
Sixteen (16) different skin and wound presentations resulting from vascular diseases, systemic infections, trauma, cancer, autoimmune disorders, coagulopathies, and multisystem organ dysfunction were identified and described.
Conclusion:
A complete patient history and assessment will help prevent misidentification of the etiology of a skin lesion or wound and misdiagnosis of these lesions as PU/Is.
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