Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40184497›Full record

ArticleAdvances in skin & wound care2025

Healing Rate and Time to Closure of Venous Leg Ulcers: A Real-World Service Evaluation of Neuromuscular Electrostimulation as an Adjunct to Compression Therapy.

Holly Murray, Rochelle Duong, Duncan Shirreffs Bain

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Advances in skin & wound care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Holly MurrayHolly Murray, BNSc, RN, WOCN, NSWOC, WOCC(C), is Registered Nurse and Nurse Specialized in Wound, Ostomy and Continence, Spectrum Health Care, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Rochelle Duong, MHA, BScN, RN, is Director, Clinical Operations and Client Solutions, Aetonix, a division of Trudell Medical, London, Ontario. Duncan Shirreffs Bain, PhD, is Consultant, Bain Consulting, Hertfordshire, UK, and is a paid consultant to Firstkind Ltd. The authors have disclosed no other financial relationships related to this article. Submitted June 13, 2024; accepted in revised form December 19, 2024.
Rochelle Duong
Duncan Shirreffs Bain

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo perform a service evaluation of neuromuscular electrostimulation (NMES) as an adjunct to compression therapy, comparing the rate of wound margin advance and time to closure with a matched retrospective control group.

methodsFifteen patients with venous leg ulcers were prescribed NMES for 6 hours per day for 56 days or until wound closure (whichever occurred first), in addition to multilayer compression. Wounds were selected for size, with an inclusion criterion of a maximum of 12 cm 2 . Wound progress was compared with 15 retrospective control patients who were matched for ulcer size and duration.

resultsThe retrospective group had a healing rate of 0.31 mm per week (95% CI, 29-37 mm/week), whereas the prospective compression plus NMES group had a healing rate of 0.56 mm per week (95% CI, 50-62 mm/week; P = .004). All wounds in both groups healed completely during the service evaluation. Mean time to closure for the retrospective group was 77 days (95% CI, 66-88 days), whereas the NMES group had a mean time to closure of 40 days (95% CI, 37-43 days; P = .005).

conclusionsAdding NMES of the common peroneal nerve to a care bundle including multicomponent compression resulted in significantly faster wound margin advance and significantly less time to heal in comparison with retrospective matched controls. Future randomized controlled trials or self-controlled studies of this approach would be of great interest to inform clinical practice.

Indexed as

Compression BandagesElectric Stimulation TherapyVaricose UlcerWound HealingAgedAged, 80 and overCase-Control StudiesCombined Modality TherapyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesTime FactorsTreatment Outcomecompressiongekohealingneuromuscular electrostimulationvenous leg ulcer

Identifiers

PMID40184497
PMCPMC12244963

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.