dvm360 Live! digs into complex wound cases

Content sponsored by NovaQuis Animal Health.

Editor’s note: Some of the following images are graphic in nature and might be disturbing to some viewers.

Wound management can test a veterinary team's patience and creativity, especially when the visible injury is only part of the story. In the season 3 premiere of dvm360 Live!, host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, chief veterinary officer of dvm360, welcomed board-certified veterinary surgeon Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS, to discuss a newer approach to open wound care and review some of the toughest wounds of his career.

Mehler, who has trained veterinarians on 6 continents, emphasized that successful healing depends on the entire care team, pet owners included. "Chronic wound management is like any chronic disease. Without the pet parent and their compliance at home, it can be a disaster," he said. "You can do everything perfect in the clinic, and then at home, that can all be erased immediately."

Giving the wound bed structure

Mehler described ScafiGen Advanced Structural Hydrogel, which pairs the moisture of a hydrogel with a cohesive 3-dimensional scaffold designed to stabilize the wound bed and support mature granulation tissue formation. That tissue is a key milestone in open wound management, he explained. "Once you've got a nice granulation bed there, we have a wound that is now inherently resistant to infection. It's hard to screw that up afterwards," said Mehler.

Conventional hydrogels can fall short, he noted, because "sometimes you have these deep pocketing wounds, and a lot of the hydrogel products they really lack the residency to stay in place."

The product can be applied directly from the bottle or with a gloved finger, cotton swab, or gauze. A film of 1 mm or less is sufficient for surface wounds, whereas deeper pocketing wounds should be filled "right up to the wound edge," Mehler said. It can be used with or without a bandage, including on incisions.

Mehler cited a 473% return on investment for practices and highlighted the take-home bottles that let owners participate in care. Having owners apply the product at home "really gives them skin in the game," he said.