Wound Healing

While most wounds heal with time, millions of Americans suffer from chronic, non-healing wounds that negatively affect their life.

The George Washington University Hospital's Wound Healing and Limb Preservation Center help patients get relief by using many of the latest wound healing techniques. Through early intervention and appropriate treatment, physicians at the center can help eliminate pain, prevent disfigurement and save patients from major surgery that could include the amputation of limbs.

Physicians at the George Washington University Hospital's Wound Healing and Limb Preservation Center focus on healing acute and chronic wounds to help prevent the loss of limbs. They practice under the motto "Heal the patient, not just the wound." That means that physicians work to gain a full understanding of the complex and overlapping causes of a wound and initiate treatments that result in healing and decrease the chances of infection.

Physicians at the center include experts in assessing patients in a number of areas, including vascular disease, podiatry, rheumatology, plastic surgery, infectious disease, cardiology, renal, orthopedics and wound care. The staff at the center works closely with each patient's primary care physician, family and other supportive services to give the best possible care.

Common Wounds

Specialists at the Wound Healing and Limb Preservation Center treat the following conditions:

• Arterial ulcers of the lower extremities, foot and ankle
• Breast and back wounds
• Burns, post-radiation wounds
• Chronic venous ulcers or venous insufficiency
• Diabetic foot ulcers
• Dry gangrene
• Foot and ankle trauma, injuries and infected wounds
• Gastric bypass abdominal wounds
• Lymphedema wounds
• Non-healing surgical wounds, ostomy wounds
• Pressure ulcers
• Pyoderma Gangrenosum
• Resistant bone infection wounds/Refractory Osteomyelitis
• Sickle cell ulcers
• Sports related trauma wounds

Treatment Options 

Techniques to Improve Blood Supply

Doctors may perform minimally invasive catheter-based procedures, and use balloons, stents or other devices to restore blood flow to the legs.

In some cases, surgeons may need to perform traditional surgery to bypass blockages. Bypass surgery in the leg is similar to coronary artery bypass surgery in that it involves using a graft or part of a patient's vein removed from another part of the body to connect healthy blood vessels and bypass an obstruction in a blood vessel. The bypass restores circulation to help relieve pain, promote healing and prevent limb amputation. 

Saving Lives and Limbs

The Vascular Surgery team at GW Hospital uses advanced equipment to detect, treat and prevent vascular disorders that can lead to the loss of limbs or result in strokes or aneurysms.