Methods:  This is an open-label case series at 22 geographically distributed long term care facilities.  Data collected included subject age, gender, wound type, location, and dimensions.  All subjects received CPI therapy as an adjunct to standard institutional wound care protocols. 

 Results:  35 wounds in 35 patients were studied.  Among these, 10 were treated with CPI for 3 weeks and 25 were treated for 4 weeks. Most patients were residents of skilled nursing facilities (74.2%), with the remainder in spinal cord injury units, nursing homes or long term acute care hospitals.  The mean age of the patient population was 73.6 years.  Wounds were large, with mean initial wound area of 9.8 cm², and chronic, with a mean wound age of 6.9 months.  Over the course of the first month of CPI therapy, the percentage of Stage IV wounds which closed was 11.4% (4/35) and the percentage which reduced in surface area by >50% was 65.7% (23/35).  Overall, Stage III Pressure Ulcers reduced an average of 67.9% in surface area during the first month of CPI treatment, with a healing rate of 22.2 mm²/day.

 Conclusions: In the first 4 weeks, CPI therapy leads to a significant reduction in wound size when treating chronic Stage III Pressure Ulcers in elderly patients.

 * PROVANT Wound Therapy System (Regenesis Biomedical, Inc., Scottsdale AZ)