Healing of Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Pressure Ulcers With Human Skin Equivalent

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Abstract
THE MORBIDITY and mortality from a venous stasis ulcer, diabetic foot ulcer, or pressure ulcer (sacral, gluteal, or trochanteric) presents a considerable health care problem. We calculated from multiple sources that in the United States, the total prevalence of all 3 of these types of ulcers is between 3 and 6 million.1-3 These physiologically impaired and slow-to-heal wounds place a great burden on the health system, with costs of billions of dollars. The true costs of such chronic wounds, however, cannot be estimated solely by their enormous health care expenditures. The pain and suffering incurred by a patient who enters the hospital for a medical disease and leaves with a sacral ulcer goes far beyond the costs of that wound.