Frequency of Debridements and Time to Heal: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 312 744 Wounds

IMPORTANCE Chronic wounds usually get trapped in the inflammatory stage of wound healing; however, aggressive debridement transforms chronic wounds to acute wounds and therefore complete healing. OBJECTIVE To investigate healing outcomes and debridement frequency in a large wound data set. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Data collected from 525 wound care centers from June 1, 2008, through June 31, 2012, using a web-based clinical management system. PATIENTS Referred sample of 154 644 patients with 312 744 wounds of all causes (of an initial data set of 364 534 wounds) participated. A total of 47.1% were male. Median age was 69 years (age range, 19-112 years), with 59.2% having one wound. Eligibility criteria included age older than 18 years, receiving at least 1 debridement, and having been discharged from the system. Advanced therapeutic treatment was ineligible. Because of incomplete, questionable, or ineligible data, 57 190 wounds were not included. Most wounds were diabetic foot ulcers (19.0%), venous leg ulcers (26.1%), and pressure ulcers (16.2%). INTERVENTION Debridement (removal of necrotic tissue and foreign bodies from the wound) at different frequencies. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE Wound healing (completely epithelialized with dimensions at 0 × 0 × 0 cm). RESULTS A total of 70.8% of wounds healed. The median number of debridements was 2 (range, 1-138). Frequent debridement healed more wounds in a shorter time (P