Regenerative medical strategies hold promise to improve cutaneous wound care.The integration of technological advances with our improved understanding of the complex pathophysiologic mechanisms occurring during wound healing has facilitated recent developments in advanced wound healing modalities.The response of tissue to injuryis a complex, orchestrated event involving a variety of cells, growth factors and cytokines, extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and their modifiers. While cutaneous healing in the midgestational fetus results in perfect restoration of skin architecture(regeneration), post-natal healing occurs in a reparative fashion in which scar tissue replaces the normal cutaneous architecture. Cutaneous wound healing in the post natal organism is a balance between rapid wound closure to reestablish the protective barrier of the skin, and overexuberant wound healing resulting in excessive scar formation. Complications of either inadequate healing or pathologic dermal scarring represent significant clinical burdens that result in considerable morbidity and health care expenditure in human medicine. In recent years, regenerative medical strategies have been applied as novel therapies for these challenging wounds. Thankfully, appropriately treated wounds in small animal veterinary patients tend to heal with significantly fewer complications by comparison. However, many of the new innovative therapies developed to address pathologic wound healing in humans may be adapted for challenging wounds in veterinary patients to improve efficiency and quality of repair and therefore improve patient outcomes.
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