From the editor


Catching the suspect


On the web...


Keep up with the latest developments across the industry by visiting www.practical-patient-care.com


Practical Patient Care Issue 31


Editorial Editor Peter Littlejohns peter.littlejohns@progressivemediainternational.com Sub-editor Liam Murphy Group art director Henrik Williams Designer Martin Faulkner Production manager Dave Stanford Head of content Jake Sharp


Commercial Client services executive Ruchita Marwaha Sales manager Martin John Sales and marketing Glen Savage glen.savage@progressivemediainternational.com Managing director William Crocker


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iagnostics can be a mixed bag for doctors. Sometimes the ailment is on the surface, other times some kind of sample must be sent to a lab for analysis. In rarer cases, there’s no way to get a definitive answer. Getting to the bottom of what causes diseases and how they progress is a bit like detective work and in our cover feature on page 8, Monica Karpinski looks at how proteins are proving to be a promising suspect and potential diagnostic marker. Another example of a deadly diagnostic conundrum is sepsis, where a patient’s life can hinge on targeting the right pathogen despite there being hundreds of potential culprits. On page 28, Peter Littlejohns speaks to two researchers who have spent much of their careers working to improve the odds of sepsis patients with a treatment and diagnostic pathway for the disease. Just because something looks easy to treat, doesn’t mean that’s always the case. Wounds are a great example of this, and on page 44, Sarah Harris speaks to two wound care experts to better understand the conditions that can prevent a wound from healing, as well as the cost of treating wounds in the UK. Elsewhere in Europe, there’s a new innovation put in place to treat one of the most common chronic wounds seen in the clinic – diabetic foot ulcers. Andrea Valentino finds out how the diabetic foot ulcer fast-track pathway is showing promising results by speaking to two researchers monitoring its progress. For some patients, there’s no time to diagnose, and treatment comes down to simply keeping them from slipping away on the operating table. On page 60, Mae Losasso speaks to an expert in emergency medicine to learn how treatment for traumatic injury in the operating theatre has evolved. Other topics discussed in this issue include the use of virtual reality headsets to train surgeons, changing infection control protocol during the pandemic and discovering new biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.


D Peter Littlejohns, editor


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