Innovations in wound medicine

The prevalence of chronic wounds is closely correlated to civilisational diseases and the ageing population. They are causing morbidity and mortality of millions of patients worldwide. Besides the individual distress, chronic wounds induce enormous and rapidly growing costs for our health care systems and society in general.Therefore medically effective and cost efficient treatment methods are desperately needed."Regenerative Medicine" might offer innovative scientific solutions, including the application of stem cells, growth factors and new bioactive materials. These appliances are experimentally well described, however, clinically poorly performed. Main reasons are both legislative and economic.This review specifies current research projects, up to date technique, innovative preclinical and clinical approaches in wound care, and activities to translate these cutting-edge techniques into clinical routine.