Chronic wounds often heal slowly and may contain bacteria. Some of these bacteria are resistant to important antibiotics (multidrug-resistant pathogens, MDR), which can complicate treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate which bacteria are present in chronic lower-leg wounds and how frequently multidrug-resistant pathogens are detected. To this end, only data collected as part of routine medical care in 2022 and 2023 will be analyzed. No additional tests will be performed, and the study will not affect the patients’ treatment. The results will be compared with earlier studies from the same wound clinic to examine changes in the pathogen spectrum and the prevalence of multidrug-resistant pathogens over the past 20 years at the same institution.
Leg ulcer
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The primary endpoint is the prevalence of multidrug-resistant pathogens (MDRPs) in bacteriological wound swabs from patients with chronic leg ulcers collected in 2022 and 2023. In addition, the spectrum of bacterial pathogens will be described in terms of the frequency of detected bacterial species and compared with the results of previous surveys (2002/2003, 2007/2008, and 2012/2013). The parameters are collected retrospectively on a one-time basis using bacteriological wound swabs obtained as part of routine clinical care in 2022 and 2023, as well as the associated clinical documentation. No prospective visits or follow-up examinations are conducted. Data collection is conducted retrospectively from electronic health records and the microbiological findings of the Institute of Medical Microbiology. The study captures the results of routinely performed wound swabs as well as the basic clinical data required for the analysis. The data are anonyymized prior to analysis and subsequently subjected to statistical analysis.