Protease status in chronic wounds: a point-of-care diagnostic test

Wound care clinicians’ calls for better diagnostic tools to aid wound assessment have now been answered with the CE marking of WOUNDCHEK Protease Status, the world’s first rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnostic test developed specifically for chronic wounds. The test has the potential to revolutionise wound care by enabling early, targeted intervention and cost-effective use of advanced therapies designed to modulate protease activity. Systagenix is initially introducing the test across Europe, South Africa and the Middle East.

Protease status
Developed by Systagenix Wound Management in collaboration with Alere, and designed to form part of routine wound assessment, WOUNDCHEK Protease Status is easy to use and provides results in just 15 minutes at the point of care. This enables the test to influence treatment decisions immediately and help clinicians target advanced wound care therapies more effectively by identifying when elevated protease activity (EPA) is present in chronic wounds.

Although widely understood and recognised as a key marker in wound healing, EPA in chronic wounds currently goes undetected, as it presents no visual cues. A recently published study showed that chronic wounds with EPA have a 90% probability that they will not heal without appropriate intervention. The estimated 30 million chronic wounds treated each year account for approximately 3% of total health expenditure. Until now, with almost 30% of non-healing wounds showing EPA, the absence of a test could result in ineffective treatment choices, leading to significant cost to healthcare providers.