Wound Care
by Tracy Hampton
Most people who scrape their knees or bang themselves up can brush themselves off, slap on a band-aid or two, and let nature work its healing magic. But about 2% of Americans suffer from what are called chronic, nonhealing wounds - ones that stay open and don't heal after a couple of months. Here on the Cape, there's one of only about a hundred so-called Wound Care Centers in the U.S. Specialists and medical professionals rotate through the center and are drawn from the Cape Cod and Falmouth Hospitals.
Over the past two years, fifty-five year old Ilene Luce of Monument Beach had three abdominal surgeries that left her with a badly infected wound. When she was referred to the Wound Care Center in Sandwich, doctors applied something called an appligraph - a type of fake skin graft that allows the wound to heal.
Ilene Luce: "It worked wonders, it really did. But it's not gone yet. So we're down to one little spot. And I don't know if this baby's ever going to really heal up. We've got a sinus track that continues to drain and it's sixteen months later."
Patients like Ilene don't often have access to specialized attention for their nagging injuries, but now, they can get cutting edge treatments at theWound Care Center. Dr. Peter Bentivegna is a plastic surgeon who's also the medical director. He says the public may not realize that wounds can be serious. When they're located on the extremities, they can sometimes be so bad that doctors have to amputate an arm or a leg.
Dr. Peter Bentivegna: "These wounds can be sometimes terrifying. They can certainly be limb threatening and sometimes life threatening. The expertise of the people at the wound care center can be brought into play, and the patients salvage their limbs and sometimes save their lives."
Bentivegna says by the time patients get to the center, they're usually frustrated, since they've had to endure their wounds for weeks, months, or even years, despite visiting multiple physicians. Bentivegna's seen all sorts of gory sores - on arms, legs, stomachs, and just about anywhere else you can imagine on the body. He says one of the most common conditions is called venous stasis, which is a circulatory disease of the extremities.
Dr. Peter Bentivegna: "These people come in with big fat purple looking feet and legs. And they need to have pressure applied to return all that blood and fluid back up into the body to shrink down their legs and decrease their pain. This is usually done with compression stockings or pumps that can be used at home. Luckily, they're some of the most successfully treated."
Sometimes, treatment strategies aren't straightforward. Wounds can be resistant to therapy, and that's when doctors at the center have to be somewhat innovative.
Dr. Peter Bentivegna: "We sometimes use biotechnology products to close the wounds, whether they be biotechnology skin grafts or completely synthetic dressings that can be put on that are actually incorporated into the body that can close the wound. We?re really sitting at the cutting edge. Anything that's new we can bring in."
Ilene Luce's husband, William, is optimistic his wife will be completely healed soon. It's been a long journey for the two. First, the surgery and recovery at the Falmouth Hospital, and then on to the Wound Care Center. William says there's not much else they can do at this point.
William Luce: "If this doesn't work, we'll go to plan C, which I'll take her over to the boat yard and mix up some fiber glass and put a patch on it like they do on a boat." (laughs)
Since the Wound Care Center opened, about 750 patients have been treated. Bentivegna says the numbers speak for themselves: patients are healed at a rate is 90%, and patient satisfaction is 98%. For 2002, he hopes another 400 or so will be added to the growing number of patients on Cape Cod whose chronic wounds are completely healed.
Tracy Hampton reports for WCAI-WNAN.
Most people who scrape their knees or bang themselves up can brush themselves off, slap on a band-aid or two, and let nature work its healing magic. But about 2% of Americans suffer from what are called chronic, nonhealing wounds - ones that stay open and don't heal after a couple of months. Here on the Cape, there's one of only about a hundred so-called Wound Care Centers in the U.S. Specialists and medical professionals rotate through the center and are drawn from the Cape Cod and Falmouth Hospitals.
Over the past two years, fifty-five year old Ilene Luce of Monument Beach had three abdominal surgeries that left her with a badly infected wound. When she was referred to the Wound Care Center in Sandwich, doctors applied something called an appligraph - a type of fake skin graft that allows the wound to heal.
Ilene Luce: "It worked wonders, it really did. But it's not gone yet. So we're down to one little spot. And I don't know if this baby's ever going to really heal up. We've got a sinus track that continues to drain and it's sixteen months later."
Patients like Ilene don't often have access to specialized attention for their nagging injuries, but now, they can get cutting edge treatments at theWound Care Center. Dr. Peter Bentivegna is a plastic surgeon who's also the medical director. He says the public may not realize that wounds can be serious. When they're located on the extremities, they can sometimes be so bad that doctors have to amputate an arm or a leg.
Dr. Peter Bentivegna: "These wounds can be sometimes terrifying. They can certainly be limb threatening and sometimes life threatening. The expertise of the people at the wound care center can be brought into play, and the patients salvage their limbs and sometimes save their lives."
Bentivegna says by the time patients get to the center, they're usually frustrated, since they've had to endure their wounds for weeks, months, or even years, despite visiting multiple physicians. Bentivegna's seen all sorts of gory sores - on arms, legs, stomachs, and just about anywhere else you can imagine on the body. He says one of the most common conditions is called venous stasis, which is a circulatory disease of the extremities.
Dr. Peter Bentivegna: "These people come in with big fat purple looking feet and legs. And they need to have pressure applied to return all that blood and fluid back up into the body to shrink down their legs and decrease their pain. This is usually done with compression stockings or pumps that can be used at home. Luckily, they're some of the most successfully treated."
Sometimes, treatment strategies aren't straightforward. Wounds can be resistant to therapy, and that's when doctors at the center have to be somewhat innovative.
Dr. Peter Bentivegna: "We sometimes use biotechnology products to close the wounds, whether they be biotechnology skin grafts or completely synthetic dressings that can be put on that are actually incorporated into the body that can close the wound. We?re really sitting at the cutting edge. Anything that's new we can bring in."
Ilene Luce's husband, William, is optimistic his wife will be completely healed soon. It's been a long journey for the two. First, the surgery and recovery at the Falmouth Hospital, and then on to the Wound Care Center. William says there's not much else they can do at this point.
William Luce: "If this doesn't work, we'll go to plan C, which I'll take her over to the boat yard and mix up some fiber glass and put a patch on it like they do on a boat." (laughs)
Since the Wound Care Center opened, about 750 patients have been treated. Bentivegna says the numbers speak for themselves: patients are healed at a rate is 90%, and patient satisfaction is 98%. For 2002, he hopes another 400 or so will be added to the growing number of patients on Cape Cod whose chronic wounds are completely healed.
Tracy Hampton reports for WCAI-WNAN.
