Diabetic Wound Healing, Inflammatory Skin Dermatoses and Cancer Dermatoses Flashcards
What are the 3 layers of the skin and the dominant cell types within them?
- Epidermis:
- Keratinocyte rich
- Melanocytes
- Merkel cells (nerve cells)
- Langerhans cells (immune cells) - Dermis:
- Fibroblasts (that secrete collagen)
- Vascular network (endothelial cells)
- Specialised structures such as hair follicles, sebacious glands and sweat glands - Subcutaneous Tissue:
- Adipocytes
What are the two types of skin?
- Glaborous skin:
- On palms of hands and soles of feet
- Hairless skin
- Thicker layer of keratinocytes in epidermis (for protection) - Hairy skin:
- Covers rest of body
- Contains hair follicles and associated sebacious glands
What are the 4 basic steps of wound healing?
- Homeostasis:
- Blood clot formation (due to activation of thrombin which causes platelet aggregation) - Inflammation:
- Helps prevent infection
- Recruitment of neutrophils
- Recruitment of macrophages
- Macrophages signal to other cell types including keratinocytes (PDGF), fibroblasts and endothelial cells (VEGF)
- Macrophages also debride the wound - Proliferation:
- Different cell types proliferate to repopulate the wound (due to signalling from inflammatory cells)
- Keratinocytes proliferate and migrate down edges of wound
- Endothelial cells: proliferate to form new blood vessels
- Fibroblasts: proliferate to deposit collagen - Remodelling:
- Aims to restore tensile strength of skin to 70-80% of original
- Collagen cross-linking and maturation
- Elastic fiber appearance
- Scar formation can occur
Describe the typical process of a simple incision wound healing process:
- Simple incision
Immediate:
2. Blood clot forms (homeostasis) and epithelium thickens at site of wound
24-48 hours:
- Leukocyte infiltration (neutrophils, lymphocytes)- inflammation
- Epithelium grows down along incision edges
5-8 days:
- Epithelial down growth progresses (proliferative phase)
- Fibroblast activation takes place
- Cellular infilitration progresses (macrophages)
10-15 days:
- Angiogenesis (endothelial cell proliferation)
- Regression of epithelial down growth
- Fibrosed blood clot (scab) is pushed out by proliferating keratinocytes)
- Collagen formation progresses (remodelling)
- Inflammation abates
3 days-9 months:
- Epithelium is thinned to near normal
- Tensile strength is restored to 70-80%
What is the difference between mouse and human skin?
- Mouse skin has thinner epidermis and dermis
- Mouse skin is much more densely populated with keratinocytes
What are the important stem cells involved in wound healing?
Niche Epidermal Stem Cells:
- Basal Epidermal Stem Cells:
- Found at bottom of epidermis
- Repopulates keratinocytes - Hair Follicle Stem Cells:
- Can form hair follicle and sebaceous gland - Intrafollicular Epidermal Stem Cell:
- Located between epidermis and hair follicles
- Can form many cell types - Adipose-derived stem cells:
- Located in subcutaneous layer
- Role in wound healing unclear
Circulating Stem Cells:
- In the event that a wound breaches all layers of the skin and there is a loss of local niche stem cells in that area, not only can neighbouring niche stem cells migrate- endothelial progenitor stem cells can migrate to the wound from the circulation and help form new blood vessels during the proliferative phase of wound healing
What are the General Principles of Wound Care?
- Uncover and Examine Wound:
- Done to examine depth and also type of wound
- Colour of wound can inform what treatment strategy will be used - Moisten wound:
- Makes debridement easier
- Cleans wound (anti-microbial cleansers used) - Examine Wound (if neccessary surgically debride):
- Surgical debridement involves the removal of non-viable and dead tissue as it inhibits the wound healing process and can harbour infection - Treat depending on wound:
- Topical formations on gauze e.g. antibiotics for bacterial infection, zinc cream for rash etc. - Carefully dress wound:
- Hydrogel used for moist wound healing
- Absorbant Iordosorb gel is used for dry wound healing - Schedule follow up appointment or specialised care
What are the hallmarks of diabetic wounds?
- Prolonged inflammation:
- Endothelial cell dysfunction:
- Can cause vessels to leak fluid into tissue and also comprimises angiogenesis - Poor keratinocyte migration
- Poor fibroblast activation
What is the Underlying Pathology of Diabetic Foot Ulcers?
- Neuropathy:
- Sensory neuropathy: causes decreased pain sensation, meaning patients can place excessive pressure on one part of foot without feeling pain as pathology occurs
- Motor neuropathy: causes muscular atrophy resulting in changes to foot posture that can cause prominant bone areas to appear that are prone to ulceration
- Autonomic neuropathy: destruction of sympathetic nerves causes constriction of peripheral blood vessels - Ischaemia due to peripheral vascular disease
- Neuropathy and or ischemia is accompanied by an external trauma (e.g. pressure/sheer forces)
How are Low Grade Diabetic Foot Ulcers Treated?
- Surgical debridement
- Topical Dressings:
- Ischemic wounds: dressed with absorbent dressing
- Non-ischemic wounds: dressed with hydrogel dressing - Pressure Reduction:
- Pressure offloading through Styrofoam inserts or orthotics - Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
How are Diabetic Foot Ulcers Classified?
Wagner Ulcer Grade Classification:
Grade 0-2: wound care nurses can manage
Grade 2-5: specialist care required (grade 4-5 usually requires amputation as gangrene has occurred)
University of Texas Classification Chart:
- Classifies wounds based on ulcer depth and comorbidities such as infection and ischemia
What is allergic contact dermatitis?
- Very common rash
- Type IV delayed hypersensativity reaction (memory T-cells)
- Prototypical allergic contact dermatitis is the reaction to poison ivy (100% of population reacts)
- Many causes of allergic contact dermatitis are unknown
What are the phases of a type IV hypersensativity response:
- Sensatization Phase:
- 1st exposure to allergen
- Antigen phagocytosed by Langerhans cells and expressed on HLA
- Local T-cells reactive to that allergen proliferate and form memory T-cells
- Elicitation Phase:
- Re-exposure to allergen
- the allergen is presented by Langerhans cells to memory T-lymphocyte clones
- Immune cells migrate to the skin and cause the clinical manifestation of allergic contact dermatitis
How is allergic contact dermatitis treated?
- Topical steroid on skin
- Strict avoidance of allergen
- Sedating antihistamines (to stop prurtus- itching)
- Soaks to treat dry skin
- If widespread or serious: oral corticosteroids
How is allergic contact dermatitis treated?
- Topical steroid on skin
- Strict avoidance of allergen
- Sedating antihistamines (to stop prurtus- itching)
- Soaks to treat dry skin
- If widespread or serious: oral corticosteroids