Healing Centiles:​ Using Large Datasets to Assess and Compare Wound Healing​

October 2, 2024|Published Research

This poster was featured at SAWC Fall 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  

Authors: Lucas Goldstone, Rob D. J. Fraser, Justin Allport, Heba Tallah Mohammed, Rishabbh Gupta

Introduction: Many existing tools to monitor wound healing are based on speculative models and do not leverage the large longitudinal databases that exist today. ​As a result, they are easy to apply to individual cases, but do not provide insight on how wounds are progressing relative to typical healing patterns.​
Centile curves are an intuitive way to compare an individual’s status against population norms. This study explores the feasibility of creating and using Healing Centiles based on a large database of wound documentation as a means of allowing patients and clinicians to understand their status.

Objective: The goal of the study was to build centile charts of wound progression over time, validate their applicability, and explore their useability.​ Centiles were modelled based on 4 common wound types documented using a digital wound care platform in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs)​. The wound progression metric we modelled is an AI-based healing index, though similar methods can be applied to other healing metrics.​

Results:  

  • Our study demonstrates the feasibility of creating healing centiles using similar methods as those employed to create the well-known paediatric growth charts, given a large dataset of healed wounds​.
  • These centiles provide an interpretable view of how a wound is healing relative to other similar wounds, potentially helping patients understand the healing process and adding a tool to aid clinicians in describing, visualizing, and triaging wounds​.

To learn more about the research conducted for this poster, or to speak with the Swift Medical team about digital wound care, contact us

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