Treatment of chronic wounds (vascular surgery)

The aim of treatment of chronic wounds is to support the body’s own healing process. “Most importantly, the body should have an adequate supply of blood and oxygen,” says Dr. Philip Düppers, senior physician-in-charge of the .wound clinic and certified wound expert at the University Hospital Zurich.

Vacuum therapy

Vacuum therapy is most commonly prescribed. A kind of sponge is attached to the wound with a film. Wound secretions are then suctioned off through a drainage tube using negative pressure. This helps clean the wound, reduces the number of harmful germs and promotes blood circulation. Vacuum therapy is usually preceded by a surgical procedure to remove dead tissue.

Other therapeutic options

Other therapeutic options are available should standard therapies fail. Cold plasma therapy involves spraying cold plasma onto the wound with a pen for about a minute once a day. This special gas helps kill hostile bacteria or viruses, stimulate cell growth and supply the skin and cells with oxygen. Maggot therapy, on the other hand, is used for the treatment of particularly stubborn dead tissue over the wound, whereby disinfected fly larvae bred in the laboratory consume diseased tissue, so to speak.