The diagnosis of infection in chronic leg ulcers: A narrative review on clinical practice

Abstract

This literature review aimed to provide a narrative review of evidence on validity of clinical and microbial indicators of infection and to gain insights into the diagnosis of infection in chronic leg ulcers (CLUs). A search was conducted in Cinahl, Medline, the Cochrane Library databases, Embase, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Pubmed, PsycINFO, ProQuest dissertations, and Google Scholar from January 1990 to July 2017. The inclusion criteria were original studies, systematic reviews, and consensus documents focused on "infection" in CLUs, English language, clinical and community settings, and human. The reviewed studies were inconsistent in criteria for infection between investigated wound types and lack of specificity regarding wound types. There were few studies investigating the criteria for diagnosis of infection in leg ulcers. The identification of leg ulcer infection still remains problematic and relies on out-of-date and not uniform evidence. Literature in this area was mostly limited to level III and IV evidence based on The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Levels of Evidence, or expert opinion. This literature review showed seven clinical signs and symptoms that could be diagnostic for infection in CLUs, including: new, increased, or altered ulcer pain; malodour; increased ulcer area; wound breakdown, delayed or non-healing; and erythema and increased local temperature, whilst the microbial indicators used to diagnose infected leg ulcers were varied and regarded as less important.

Keywords: diagnosis; identification; indicator; infection; leg ulcer.