Significance: The treatment of chronic wounds results in an enormous drain on healthcare resources in terms of workload, costs, frustration, and impaired quality of life, and it presents a clinical challenge for physicians worldwide. Effective local treatment of a chronic wound has an important role, particularly in patients who are-because of their poor general condition, diminished life expectancy, or unacceptable operative risk-outside of surgical treatment. Recent Advances: Since 2002, our multidisciplinary research group has investigated the properties of Norway spruce (Picea abies) resin in wound healing and its therapeutic applications in wound care. Resin is a complex mixture of resin acids (e.g., abietic, neoabietic, dehydroabietic, pimaric, isopimaric, levopimaric, sandrakopimaric, and palustric acids) and lignans (e.g., pino-, larici-, matairesinol, and p-hydroxycinnamic acid) having substantial antimicrobial, wound-healing, and skin regeneration enhancing properties. Critical Issues: The cornerstone in successful wound care is an efficient causal treatment of the underlying co-morbidities, for example, diabetes, malnutrition, vascular-or certain systemic diseases. However, definitive diagnosis and specific therapy of a chronic wound is often difficult, because the etiology is practically always multi-factorial, and in the chronic phase, confounding factors such as infections invariably impede wound healing. Future Directions: To study the exact molecular mechanism of actions by which resin promotes cellular regeneration and epithelialization during the wound-healing process. To investigate potential antimicrobial properties of resin against the most ominous multidrug-resistant beta-lactamase (including carbapenemases and metallo-b-lactamases) producing bacteria, and to individualize those pharmacologically active compounds which are responsible for the antimicrobial activity of resin.
SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCEAlthough at least 170 topical wound care products are available, 1,2 well-designed randomized and controlled clinical trials regarding wound care products are rare, and the number of case-control or observational studies is limited. [3][4][5] It is estimated that the care of chronic wounds in the United States costs 6-15 billion U.S. dollars annually. 6 The annual wound care costs in Denmark, a country with similar demographics to that of Finland, are estimated to be around 100 million euros.7 From the perspective of patients, community, and health-care resources, a new, safe, clinically-and cost-effective method for the treatment of chronic wounds would be undoubtedly welcome.
TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCEOur multidisciplinary research group in Finland has investigated the properties of Norway spruce (Picea abies) resin in the treatment of acute-and chronic-, either infected or noninfected, wounds for more than 10 years now. 2,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] As a result of this comprehensive translational research program, we have succeeded in showing through basic, clinical, and applied research...