Aspects Related to Venous Ulcer Healing and its Influence on Quality of Life

Abstract

Nowadays, the varicose ulcers (VUs) are one of the most worrying leg ulcers and are an important global health problem, with high costs related to the treatment and its complications. Moreover, the quality of life (QOL) of the patient could be affected by pain, sleep disorders, functional impairment, depression, and isolation. The VU patient care is complex, and it is necessary to know the aspects that contribute to the healing process for developing effective strategies. The members of the multidisciplinary health team should identify sociodemographic, clinical, and care aspects that interfere in tissue repair and therefore impacting the QOL. Self-efficacy, adherence to treatment, and self-esteem are other important aspects also related to healing and QOL, with implications for health care and the multidisciplinary team. To sum up, the use of multidisciplinary protocols allows the systematization of care for people with VUs in order to standardize therapeutic interventions with the aim to decrease the healing process time and, as a consequence, to improve the QOL.

Factors Associated With the Quality of Life of Patients With Venous Leg Ulcers in Primary Care: Cross-Sectional Study

“…A high percentage of our patients (86%) had pain, the symptom that occurred most often in studies on VLUs. 9-11,21-26 The relationship between pain intensity and poorer quality of life has been confirmed in various studies. 9-11,21,24-26 In these studies, patients stated that pain continuously reminded them of the wound’s presence and occasionally made them feel a loss of control over the wound.…”

“…Guarnera et al reported a poorer quality of life, measured with the Short Form 12 scale, in women with VLUs, 18 and Torres found significant differences between age and VLUs. 22…”

Electrical Stimulation for Wound Healing: Opportunities for E-Textiles

“…They concluded that, because blood has such a low resistivity (1.6 Ωm -1 ), current is likely to be concentrated wherever it flows: if there is a lot of blood near the surface of the skin, current flow will concentrate near the surface, otherwise it will penetrate deeper [98]. This means that the effect of applying electrostimulation could vary depending on the blood flow to a wound, often an issue in cases of vascular ulceration [2], as well as with the ambient temperature, as blood flow is concentrated near the skin when body is trying to cool itself down [99].…”

“…All types of wounds can become chronic, but they are most prevalent as a result of pressure or vascular ulcers. These are breaks in the skin which occur because of a lack of blood flow to the underlying tissue, caused by prolonged pressure or by other problems with the circulatory system, often associated with diabetes [1], [2].…”