ASSESSMENTS

Patients will initially be asked to attend an Assessment Clinic, in which they will receive a comprehensive physical examination, wound assessment, and diagnostic investigation. These examinations will become part of a standardised wound healing record.

The London Wound Healing Centre utilises standardised protocols employed by specialist Wound Care Centres in the UK together with innovative techniques developed by leading healthcare specialists specifically for the assessment of chronic wounds.

Assessments will cover an evaluation of the many contributing factors such as nutrition and clinical history, which together with a variety of additional diagnostic tools provide us with a detailed description of each patient’s situation. These tools include;

>>> Transcutaneous Oximetry. One of the most important factors affecting the ability of a wound to heal is the supply of oxygen to the wound itself and in particular to the surrounding skin. This technique allows us to measure the amount of oxygen that is present in tissues and determine if this is adequate for healing to take place. Sensors are placed on the skin at several locations around the wound and on the body and the level of oxygen at each site is measured. If we feel that Hyperbaric Oxygen may be of benefit we will repeat this procedure whilst the patient breath 100% oxygen under increased pressure inside our chamber. This allows us to determine if increasing the amount of oxygen in your blood effectively increases the amount of oxygen delivered to your wound.
More information on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is available here.

>>> Doppler Technology. This technique enables the blood flow through the blood vessels surrounding the wound to be assessed. This gives information on perfusion of the tissue and also helps confirm the reliability of the oxygen measurement.

>>> Blood Pressure Measurements (ABPI) give a comparison of the arterial blood pressure in the foot and arm. For wound healing in the lower limb to take place, there needs to be good blood flow to that limb. These measurements are reviewed together, to determine the most appropriate further treatment.

>>> Photographic and Wound-Mapping Studies before and at repeated stages during the wound healing therapy are of paramount importance, providing vital reference points for the ongoing assessment of a wound. Wound size, location and a number of other factors will be recorded and analysed by our physicians, using modern Wound-Mapping assessment and computer assisted recording techniques.