Compression Bandaging in Treatment of Venous Leg Ulcer Essay

Compression Bandaging in Treatment of Venous Leg Ulcer - Essay Example The paper tells that persistent and long duration ulcers that do not heal within six weeks are known as chronic ulcers. Most common causes of leg ulcers include venous disease or arterial disease or both. 81% of leg ulcers are due to venous diseases, as surveyed by Health department of Ireland. Venous ulcerations occur due to the venous hypertension. Normally when the leg is moved, calf muscles compress these veins which encourage the flow of blood along the vein. The valves ensure that the blood moves from capillaries towards heart. Thrombosis and varicosity injure the valves present in the veins of legs. These valves are supposed to stop the back flow or reflux of blood. If damaged, then blood can flow in any direction and can cause hypertension in veins. As a result capillaries loose there shape and become distorted. Afterwards, an inflammatory cascade occurs which vary, in both time and its severity, among different individuals. Swelling, a fluid discharging wound and damage to t he skin with a uniformly distributed background of hyper pigmentation, dispersed purpuric macules, erythema, scaling, excoriations may also be present as an indicator of the severity of the condition. The common sites of ulceration are legs and other areas surrounding ankle. To heal long duration chronic leg ulcers various approaches have been embarked on after extensive research studies. Most of the patients have multiple co morbidities, which complicate there potential to heal. As well as patients have to visit doctors on regular basis for frequent change of dressings and for follow up on wound’s condition which increase financial burden. Recurrences are common in the case of venous leg ulcers and can become chronic very easily.(Tavernelli, Reifs&Larsent, 2010) Review: â€Å"SYSTEMIC REVIEW OF COMPRESSION TREATMENT FOR VENOUS LEG ULCERS† by Flectcher A., Cullum N., Sheldon T A.(1997). Introduction: The study is conducted to improve the outcomes of venous leg ulcer pa tients. The research article is fairly original as it is published in a peer reviewed journal (British Medical Journal). Academic journals acts as quality control and ensure that the subject is not only accurate and is properly presented and hence ensures its originality.(Bauer&Brazer, 2010). In this paper, systemic investigation is conducted using data sets from original researches (Primary sources). This work is frequently cited by other authors. The study is conducted by Professor Trevor A. Sheldon and his fellow researcher Alison Fletcher associated with NHS centre for Review and Dissemination, University of York, York. In the introduction, authors describe VLU (Venous leg ulcer) as the chronic condition which can easily recur. The main aim clearly states that the effectiveness of compression bandage as a healing agent for VLU will be determined along with its cost effectiveness. The paper describes compression bandaging as the first line treatment for venous leg ulcers when any arterial disease is absent to complicate the condition. However, determination of the most effective treatment for curing VLU is still under observation by the researchers and medical health practitioners. Therefore, NHS health technology assessment programme commissioned a systemic review to determine the extent of effectiveness of compression bandaging. Methodology The study was designed by selecting relevant data from specialized data basis including Medline, CINHAL, and EMBASE as well as manual search. Search was complemented by scrutiny of the citations, contact with various authors and original manufacturers. All the data was included, disregarding the publication date, status or language. However, complete data is not given in the paper and is referenced to Cochrane Library database. Using fixed effect (peto) method which weights each study and the relationship of dependent variable against its outcomes are