[An iatrogenic incident concerning decubitus ulcer. Decubitus ulcer encountered at clinical scenes: a discussion].
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Decubitus ulcers are frequently encountered in the elderly and in bedridden or wheelchair-bound patients. Successful treatment is often difficult and expensive. Pressure, time, and friction are the major factors involved in the development of skin ulcers with such risk factors as age, female sex, and nutritional status predisposing to their development. Complications can be life threatening. A number of treatment modalities have been used over the years, but the mainstays of treatment include attention to preventive measures, relief of pressure over bony prominences, and debridement, following the basics of wound care.
Decubitus ulcers of the fourth or fifth degree often tend to heal only after years. The result is a bad scar which is unstable and likely to breakdown. It is still surgically correctable, however. The ulcer should be cleaned and after tamponage one should perform excision without opening into the ulcer. Cover can be achieved with either a rotation flap with accompanying muscular padding or a myocutaneous flap. To protect against recurrence, the bone debridement has to be carried out aggressively.
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CONTEXT: Decubitus ulcers constitute a serious medical problem, often encountered in association with hospitalization or institutionalization in senior citizens' or nursing homes. Potentially life-threatening sepsis has been reported to originate not only from soft tissue infection, but also from osteomyelitis as a complication of involvement of bone tissue in decubitus ulcers. OBJECTIVE: To assess the histopathology of osseous structures involved in grade IV decubitus ulcers. DESIGN: Autopsy-based histopathologic assessment of the presence and extent of osteomyelitis on os sacrum specimens from 28 deceased individuals with grade IV sacral decubitus ulcers using an undecalcified preparation following plastic embedding (staining with Goldner, Kossa modification, toluidine blue, and Giemsa). RESULTS: The histologic findings were classified in 4 types of pathomorphologic changes: type 1, decubitus ulcer confined to soft tissue, no inflammation (n = 7); type 2, decubitus ulcer involving bone, no inflammation (n = 7); type 3, decubitus ulcer involving bone, inflammation of soft tissue, no osteomyelitis (n = 1); and type 4, decubitus ulcer involving bone, presence of osteomyelitis (n = 13). Type 4 changes are further described as follows: type 4a, chronic osteomyelitis alone (n = 6); and type 4b, chronic and acute osteomyelitic changes (n = 7). More than half of the cases (n = 15) showed no inflammatory reaction within the medullary cavity (types 1-3). In all cases with osteomyelitis, inflammation was exclusively confined to the superficial parts of the os sacrum. Chronic osteomyelitis was seen in all cases in which osteomyelitis was present. In addition, mild acute osteomyelitic changes were observed in 7 cases. Severe liquefying osteomyelitis affecting deeper layers of the os sacrum was not found. Sepsis was present in 2 cases; in one of these cases, the decubitus ulcer was considered a possible source of infection. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide evidence that in cases of grade IV decubitus ulcers, the macroscopic aspect and clinical imaging techniques may lead to an overestimation of the extent of osseous involvement. We suggest that the investigation of bone biopsies is not necessary in a considerable proportion of cases of grade IV decubitus ulcers in patients without sepsis, as the minor osseous alterations are of little consequence when establishing a therapeutic approach.
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