DEDICATIONAfter studying medicine at Hanover Medical School and philosophy and social psychology at the Leibniz University Hanover, Omke E. Teebken joined the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel at the end of the 1990s as a research fellow at the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery headed by Professor Dr Axel Haverich, whom Omke E. Teebken later followed back to Hanover.In Hanover, besides working as a clinician, Omke E.Teebken was particularly active scientifically, contributing to the establishment of the then newly founded Leibniz Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO). His work focused on regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, and subsequently he wrote his habilitation thesis in in this field. After basic training in cardiac surgery, he specialised clinically in vascular surgery and played a pioneering role in the development of this field. Before being appointed director of the Clinic for Vascular Surgery e Endovascular Surgery at the Peine Clinic in 2016, Omke E. Teebken headed the Vascular Surgery e Endovascular Surgery Division of the Department of Cardiothoracic, Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery at Hanover Medical School. Professor Teebken was a highly appreciated, committed, and competent colleague and teacher.On 8 April 2019, Professor Teebken passed away after a short and severe illness. He was member and author of the ESVS guideline writing committee, an esteemed colleague, and friend.We will always honor his memory.

The candy-plug technique can facilitate complete occlusion of chronic thoracic false lumen aneurysm by prohibiting distal false lumen backflow.

Chronic wounds have a major socioeconomic impact due to their frequency, chronicity, and societal costs. Patients experience substantial quality of life (QoL) impairments. The use of questionnaires for a continuous assessment of QoL and resulting interventions to improve the situation of the individual are an important cornerstone of a guideline-based wound care. The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of the Wound-QoL questionnaire. Patients with chronic wounds from two different centers were included in the prospective study. All patients completed the Wound-QoL and two other QoL questionnaires (European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions, EQ-5D, and Freiburg Life Quality Assessment for wounds, FLQA-wk) at baseline and at two more time points (4 and 8 weeks, respectively). Wound status was defined with an anchor question. Two hundred and twenty-seven patients (48.5% women) participated in the study. Mean age was 66.9 years (range 17-96, median 69.5). Indications were venous leg ulcers (40.1%), pyoderma gangraenosum (14.1%), diabetic or ischemic foot ulcers (5.3%), pressure ulcers (2.6%), and other etiologies (30.0%). The Wound-QoL showed good internal consistency, with high Cronbach's alpha in all the subscales and in the global scale in all time points (>0.8). Convergent validity was satisfactory since there were significantly (p ≤ 0.001) good correlations with the EQ-5D (range = 0.5-0.7) and FLQA-wk global score (r > 0.8) at every time point. Responsiveness was high, too. The Wound-QoL is a simple, valid tool for the longitudinal assessment of QoL in patients with chronic wounds. This questionnaire is suitable for use in clinical trials, quality of care studies and clinical routine.

IntroductionThe Kerecis™ Omega3 Wound matrix is a decellularized skin matrix derived from fish skin and represents an innovative concept to achieve wound healing. The aim of this study was to report the cumulative experience of three centers for vascular surgery regarding use of the Omega3 Wound matrix in selected patients with complicated wounds.Material and methodsIn this study 23 patients with 25 vascular and/or diabetes mellitus-associated complicated wounds and partially exposed bony segments were treated with the Omega3 Wound matrix in three vascular centers. In several patients, conventional wound treatment with vacuum therapy had previously been carried out sometimes over several weeks without durable success. Following initial debridement in the operating room, the matrix was applied and covered with a silicone mesh. In the further course, wound treatment was conducted on an outpatient setting if possible.ResultsIn total 25 wounds were treated with localization at the level of the thigh (n = 2), the distal calf (n = 7), the forefoot (n = 14) and the hand (n = 2). The time to heal varied between 9 and 41 weeks and between 3 and 26 wound matrices were applied per wound. Interestingly, a reduction of analgesics intake was noted when the treatment with the Omega3 Wound matrix was initiated.ConclusionThe novel Omega3 Wound matrix in this study represented an effective treatment option in 25 complicated wounds. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the impact of the wound matrix on stimulation of granulation tissue and re-epithelialization as well as the potential antinociceptive and analgetic effects.