Understanding chronic and hard-to-healwounds - modern wound care technology
Wounds can be divided into those that heal within about 12 weeks and those considered hard-to-heal or chronic. These persistent wounds fail to close or heal only after a long time, often due to infection, poor circulation, or underlying health conditions. Examples include diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, pressure ulcers and infected postoperative wounds. Understanding the wound healing process is essential for improving modern wound care technology and for developing new methods such as cold plasma therapy that help restore damaged tissue.
The growing burden of chronic wounds
Chronic wounds pose a serious and growing challenge for patients, healthcare professionals, and healthcare systems worldwide. Millions of people are affected, and this number continues to rise with an aging population and the increasing prevalence of diabetes.
These wounds not only reduce quality of life but also significantly increase healthcare costs each year. Infection remains one of the most common and difficult complications, as bacterial colonization and biofilm formation can block the natural wound healing process—regardless of the original cause of the wound.
Diabetic foot ulcers and impaired wound healing
More than 400 million people worldwide are living with diabetes, and the number continues to rise each year. Diabetes often causes peripheral neuropathy, which damages nerves and reduces the ability to feel pain. As a result, small wounds or pressure points on the feet may go unnoticed until they become serious. Poor blood circulation, caused by peripheral artery disease (PAD), further limits oxygen supply and the body’s ability to repair damaged tissue. In addition, diabetes is associated with immune dysfunction, which may impair the body’s ability to fight infections and delay wound healing.
Together, these factors increase the risk of developing diabetic foot ulcers. In severe cases, around 15% of patients with such ulcers may require amputation due to infection or other complications.
Promising results of PLASOMA cold plasma treatment on wound healing
Clinical studies have shown that PLASOMA can support healing in chronic and complex wounds. The technology uniquely combines cold plasma with mild electrostimulation to engage the body’s natural repair mechanisms for high quality and faster wound closure. These technologies strengthen each other to disrupt biofilm, kill bacteria and reduce inflammation, to boost microcirculation for better oxygen and nutrient delivery and to stimulate skin cells and immune cells for faster tissue repair.
Insights into Wound Healing & Plasma Therapy
FAQ's
The definition of a complex wound is a wound that does not show a pattern of healing within 12 weeks of existence. The assessment should always be made in conjunction with the patient’s underlying health condition (diabetes, wound infection, etc)
PLASOMA offers a non-invasive approach that combines cold plasma with electrostimulation. It is designed to support healing when a wound has not responded well enough to standard care and is particularly relevant when a wound is infected and does not respond well (or may be resistant) to antibiotics. Each treatment takes about two minutes and is typically given once or twice a week over several weeks. PLASOMA is a CE-certified medical device class IIb.
Cold plasma consists of so-called reactive nitrogen and oxygen species such as nitric oxide and ozone. These reactive species have proven ability to boost microcirculation for better oxygen delivery, kill bacteria, disrupt biofilm and stimulate skin and immune cells by using proven mechanisms to modulate inflammation, stimulate angiogenesis, and support tissue remodeling.
PLASOMA has run/registered multiple clinical trials: PETH study (NCT04922463), a three-arm published, peer-reviewed RCT on chronic venous leg ulcers in the Netherlands comparing standard care alone versus standard care plus PLASOMA once or twice weekly for 12 weeks. The study finds that PLASOMA helps close 62% of wounds, which is 2.5x more than standard wound care. A separate published diabetic foot ulcer study (20 patients, daily treatment over 10 days) found a statistically significant drop in Staphylococcus aureus bacterial load (p=0.01) and a reduction in ulcer surface area of up to 100%. In addition to these, PLASOMA published multiple case studies that show effectiveness even on last-resort wounds.
A bacterial biofilm in a wound is a structured community of bacteria that attaches to the wound surface and surrounds itself with a protective slimy matrix (often called extracellular polymeric substance, or EPS). This matrix acts like a shield, making the bacteria much harder to eliminate than free-floating bacteria.
PLASOMA is designed to break down biofilm and kill bacteria directly in the wound bed. A separate diabetic foot ulcer study found a statistically significant reduction in Staphylococcus aureus bacterial load (p=0.01) after cold atmospheric plasma application.