Margolis D J, Gross E A, Wood C R, Lazarus G S
Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia.
J Am Acad Dermatol. 1993 Mar;28(3):418-21. doi: 10.1016/0190-9622(93)70061-w.
Venous leg ulcers are a common cause of morbidity, but few predictive parameters exist that can be used to follow their progress.
We investigated the use of healing rate as a useful parameter in the treatment of venous ulceration.
Twenty-seven venous ulcers being treated with a standard regimen were evaluated. We calculated the initial (4-week) and overall healing rates using the Gilman method (delta A/p).
The average initial healing rate for all ulcers combined, the healed group, and the nonhealing group was 0.069, 0.087, and -0.005 cm/wk, respectively. Similarly, the average overall healing rate for all ulcers combined, the healed group, and the nonhealing group was 0.062, 0.089, and -0.043 cm/wk, respectively.
The initial healing rate (delta A/p(0-4)) may be an appropriate end point for clinical investigations comparing therapies for the treatment of chronic venous leg ulcers.
