Abstract
Wound healing is a dynamic area of research and practice. This supplement, based on presentations that took place at the Wound Healing Session of the Canadian Dermatology Association 2008 meeting in Montreal, explores the many areas related to wound healing.
Tracy Brown-Maher has written a very appropriate article on her experience with a multidisciplinary environment in managing wounds. Skin ulcerations are a fascinating field, with many challenges in diagnosis and management. New developments in certain systemic causes of ulceration, such as calciphylaxis, written by Mihal Kalisiak and colleagues from Edmonton and scleroderma, by Michele Ramien from Toronto. This issue also contains an article on contact dermatitis written by Sara Elisabeth Jean and Linda Moreau. Michael Sean McMurtry, a cardiologist specializing in vascular medicine from the University of Alberta, has reviewed arterial ulcers. There is also a thorough literature review on evidence-based treatment of pyoderma gangrenosum, as well as a very good review on thrombophilia. Susan Poelman and I report on an unusual presentation of histiocytosis X as perineal ulceration that could have mimicked pressure ulcers. Laurie Parsons from Calgary has written an article that demystifies the evaluation of osteomyelitis in wound care.
I hope you will enjoy reading this supplement and that it will impact on your practice in improving the outcome of wound care patients.
I would like to thank Schering-Plough for its generosity in supporting this supplement with an unrestricted grant. I would also like to thank the Canadian Dermatology Association for its loyalty to the wound care community and wound care patients by providing a yearly symposium on wound management. I would also like to thank all of the presenters and writers, especially our residents in dermatology, for their dedication to the patient suffering from wounds.