Early identification of wound infection: understanding wound odour

Ousey, Karen; Roberts, Deborah; Gefen, Amit

doi:10.12968/jowc.2017.26.10.577

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The presence of odour or malodor in the wounds is the result of necrotic tissue due to poor vascularization, infection or increased bacterial load. 70 Odour control should be a health professional's focus of attention, because in addition to being associated with delayed healing, it has a negative impact on the patient's well-being, with associated discomfort and embarrassment. 70 The results found in the study allow us to build a set of metadata to characterize the patient and the wound that have an impact on healing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating factors associated with complex wound healing into a mobile application: Findings from a cohort study

Marques,

de Lopes,

Neves‐Amado

et al. 2023

International Wound Journal

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Complex, chronic or hard‐to‐heal wounds are a prevalent health problem worldwide, with significant physical, psychological and social consequences. This study aims to identify factors associated with the healing process of these wounds and develop a mobile application for wound care that incorporates these factors. A prospective multicentre cohort study was conducted in nine health units in Portugal, involving data collection through a mobile application by nurses from April to October 2022. The study followed 46 patients with 57 wounds for up to 5 weeks, conducting six evaluations. Healing time was the main outcome measure, analysed using the Mann–Whitney test and three Cox regression models to calculate risk ratios. The study sample comprised various wound types, with pressure ulcers being the most common (61.4%), followed by venous leg ulcers (17.5%) and diabetic foot ulcers (8.8%). Factors that were found to impair the wound healing process included chronic kidney disease (U = 13.50; p = 0.046), obesity (U = 18.0; p = 0.021), non‐adherence to treatment (U = 1.0; p = 0.029) and interference of the wound with daily routines (U = 11.0; p = 0.028). Risk factors for delayed healing over time were identified as bone involvement (RR 3.91; p < 0.001), presence of odour (RR 3.36; p = 0.007), presence of neuropathy (RR 2.49; p = 0.002), use of anti‐inflammatory drugs (RR 2.45; p = 0.011), stalled wound (RR 2.26; p = 0.022), greater width (RR 2.03; p = 0.002), greater depth (RR 1.72; p = 0.036) and a high score on the healing scale (RR 1.21; p = 0.001). Integrating the identified risk factors for delayed healing into the assessment of patients and incorporating them into a mobile application can enhance decision‐making in wound care.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating factors associated with complex wound healing into a mobile application: Findings from a cohort study

Marques,

de Lopes,

Neves‐Amado

et al. 2023

International Wound Journal

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“…As we already said, malignant wounds are often associated with malodor, exudate, pain, and bleeding and peri-wound erythema that may represent signs of infection. A swab culture and antibiotic susceptibility should be performed in any suspicious of infection wound [ 12 , 27 , 28 ]. In our series, only one patient had an episode of infection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of malignant cutaneous wounds in oncologic patients

Starace

Carpanese

Pampaloni

et al. 2022

Support Care Cancer

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Purpose Neoplastic wounds may develop as a result of primary tumor growth in the skin, due to metastasis, or due to skin invasion by tumors emerging from deeper levels. Malignant wounds may present as a crater-like ulcer, or as raised nodules with a cauliflower-like appearance. They are associated with malodor, necrosis, pain, bleeding, and secondary infection. The aim of our study is to better characterize fungating wounds and their management. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the database of the Wound Care Unit of the University of Bologna in order to identify individuals affected by neoplastic wound, between January 2019 and February 2021. Results We identified 9 females and 2 males with a mean age of 63 years; all were referred by the Oncology Unit. Management differed depending on the characteristics of the patients and the ulcers. Complete healing of the wound, following the parallel complete remission of the lymphoproliferative neoplasia, was observed in one individual. Among the others, one died because of breast cancer, while cutaneous lesions in 2 individuals deteriorated after 1 year of follow-up. Remission/relapse of the ulcer following the treatment course administered for the lymphoma were observed in one patient. Conclusions Treatment of malignant fungating wounds is challenging. Considering the neoplastic nature of the wounds, complete healing or improvement cannot be expected with the application of classically prescribed dressing for wounds. A mostly palliative treatment, focusing on maintaining the patient’s quality of life, is a reasonable choice.

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“…Wound odor is led by tissue necrosis and is often clinically used for diagnosing wound infection. 30 It has been agreed that bacteria would rapidly colonize in open wounds of PIs and result in wound infections and tissue necrosis. Considering the lack of professional wound care in home or the nursing home, the wounds of POA-PIs were assumed with a high proportion of infections.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%