Applications / Wound Assessment and Prevention
The EPISCAN can be a valuable tool in the assessment of chronic ulcers. It allows the user to look beneath the wounds for subtle changes that may affect clinical decision making.
The EPISCAN can be used for the following:
- Visualization of tissue beneath the wound
- Visualization of wound undermining
- Visualization of sinus tract formation
- Visualization of sub-wound edema
- Visualization of foreign bodies
- Documentation of effectiveness of wound treatments
Visualization of tissue beneath the wound:
Up until now the caregiver could only visually assess the surface of a wound. The EPISCAN allows the user to look at tissue beneath the wound to see what is occurring. It can aid treatment decisions by helping to determine how deep the wound penetrates and the quality of the tissue beneath the wound.
Visualization of wound undermining:
It is common for wounds to undermine under the skin expanding much wider than the wound surface. The EPISCAN allows the user to image the peri-wound area to see if undermining is occurring. This can change the treatment regime and require more aggressive debridement or packing of the wound.
Visualization of sinus tract formation:
Sinus tract formation is common in wounds. In fact since we can see with ultrasound that most wounds begin deep and then tunnel to the surface, it would be expected that many such wounds have deep sinus tracts. The EPISCAN can visualize sinus tracts which may necessitate more aggressive debridement and exploration. This may also alert the healthcare provider to the possibility of ostoemyelitis which may warrant further diagnostic testing.
Visualization of sub-wound edema:
Many wound care experts and researchers believe that edema under a wound is a prime reason for slow healing. A variety of treatments are aimed at reducing this edema. The EPISCAN is the perfect tool to monitor the effectiveness of these treatments.
Visualization of foreign bodies:
There are times where there are foreign bodies within the wound tissue. This could be suture or various other structures. Examining the wound with the EPISCAN could help identify these foreign bodies and also help navigate the clinician to the exact location to aid in their removal.
Documentation of effectiveness of wound treatments:It is extremely important to document wound appearance, treatment, and outcome as documentation aides in appropriate continuity of care and positive clinical outcomes. The EPISCAN is an excellent assessment tool for this documentation.
Sequence of images depicting the healing of a chronic wound