NUTRITION IN WOUND-HEALING

Wound healing is an exuberant and complex cascade of cellular and biochemical events that must follow a regulated path for ultimately successful repair to occur. The cell-to-cell communication required for the orchestration of the activities of the various cellular elements that make up a healing wound is achieved by means of cytokines; however, wound healing occurs within the context of the host metabolism and physiology and host parameters such as circulatory state, oxygenation, and nutritional state can profoundly affect the healing of wounds. Traumatic and surgical wounds pose a major clinical challenge; wound infections and/or delayed wound healing are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the clinical setting and also represent a considerable financial burden to the health systems of the world. The important role of nutrition in the recovery from traumatic or surgical injury has been recognized by clinicians since the time of Hippocrates.1 Poor nutritional intake or lack of individual nutrients alters significantly many aspects of wound healing. More recently, there has been interest in the pharmacologic use of individual nutrients as modulators of wound healing. © 1994.