A Single-center, Retrospective Study of Cryopreserved Umbilical Cord for Wound Healing in Patients Suffering From Chronic Wounds of the Foot and Ankle

Objective. Chronic wounds are a significant issue not only in wound care facilities, but also in daily practice for general practitioners and specialists across a wide variety of disciplines. These wounds are primarily foot or lower extremity ulcers and can result from a combination of factors including neuropathy, vascular insufficiency, and impaired wound healing. In addition to a significant health care cost, ulcerations have a devastating impact on virtually every aspect of the affected patient's daily life such as extensive pain, sleep impairment, restricted mobility, and work capacity. The objective of this single-center, retrospective study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a human cryopreserved umbilical cord (cUC) allograft as an advanced therapeutic treatment modality for chronic, nonhealing lower extremity wounds. Materials and Methods. Following Institutional Review Board approval, data from all qualifying patients who had received cUC tissue treatment during a period of 16 months was collected retrospectively. A total of 57 patients presenting with 64 chronic wounds who received treatment with cUC and were treated by the same surgeon at a single wound care center were analyzed. Results. The average initial wound area was 6.85 cm(2) +/- 16.29 cm(2). Overall, 51 of 64 wounds achieved complete healing, resulting in an overall wound-healing rate of 79.7%. For wounds that healed, the average wound-healing time was 5.53 +/- 3.93 weeks, and an average of 3.43 +/- 2.42 applications of cUC were used to achieve healing. Conclusion. Overall, these results demonstrate cUC may be effective in promoting the healing of chronic, lower extremity ulcers. In addition, this study suggests cUC may be a useful advanced tissue treatment modality with the potential not only to improve patient quality of life, but also positively impact rising health care costs associated with long-term treatment of such ulcers. Further exploration, including prospective, randomized controlled trials, is warranted to better understand the effectiveness of cUC.