Status and challenges of electrical stimulation use in chronic wound healing

Non-healing wounds have led to a soaring clinical and socioeconomical need for advanced wound-care techniques. Electrical stimulation is an emerging therapy inspired by the wound's endogenous electric field. Promising results of clinical trials have encouraged efforts to create wearable stimulation devices, uncover multiple cellular targets, and optimize stimulation regimes. However, the field faces a translational bottleneck. This review aims to highlight the gaps between in vivo treatments and in vitro associated experiments by discussing the current knowledge of the generation, characterization, and targets of electrical stimuli. It becomes clear that enabling the translation of this technology will require increasing the complexity of the current models for skin endogenous and controlled ion transport, and investigating which stimulus has an optimum effect on cells derived from chronic wound-prone patients.

Automated summary

Non-healing wounds have led to a growing demand for advanced wound-care techniques, and electrical stimulation has emerged as a promising therapy. However, there is currently a translational bottleneck in the field, requiring further research and optimization of stimulation schemes, as well as investigation into the optimal effects of stimuli on cells derived from chronic wound-prone patients.