Anglais medical : tout savoir sur les ulcères veineux !

Ce nouveau cours d’anglais, élaboré par Virginia Allum, auteur et consultante EMP (English for Medical Purposes) traite des ulcères veineux et de leurs traitements. Les corrigés des exercices sont à retrouver en PDF en bas de page. N'hésitez pas à vous servir du dictionnaire en ligne Wordreference. Vous trouverez à la fin de cet article les corrections des exercices qui vous sont proposés téléchargeables au format pdf.

Activity 1

Match the terms with the French translation.

Activity 2

Complete the definitions. Use the terms in the table to help you.

1.  _____________________: a type of wound caused when the valves in veins malfunction causing increased pressure.
2.  _____________________: soft dressing made of brown seaweed which forms a gel in contact with wound exudate.
3.  _____________________: to remove dead tissue and surface contamination from a wound.
4.  _____________________: equilibrium in the wound; avoiding maceration (excess moisture) and desiccation (drying out of the wound)
5.  _____________________: assessment of the amount of water that evaporates through the skin.
6.  _____________________: liquid drainage from a wound in response to tissue damage.
7.  _____________________: dressings: used to reduce the microbial burden of a wound and encourage wound healing.
8.  _____________________: kind of dressing that provides a warm, moist environment for optimal healing

Activity 3

Read the text and answer the questions.

From: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Chronic venous insufficiency may lead to the development of venous leg ulcers which are the most common form of chronic wounds in the lower extremity. The main aim in managing chronic leg ulcers is to maintain the health of the skin surrounding the ulcer.

To ensure that the surrounding skin is healthy, the moisture-balance of the skin should be monitored carefully and managed with appropriate dressings. A variety of dressings may be used, including foam dressings, antimicrobial dressings and alginate (seaweed) dressings.

Foam dressings promote a moist wound environment and are convenient to use because they are easy to fit into wounds of different sizes and shapes. Alginate dressings absorb large amounts of wound drainage so that new skin growth is encouraged. Alginate dressings form a gel in the wound, preventing wound dehydration. The dressings also debride small amounts of dead tissue which is important for chronic leg ulcers to heal. Both foam and alginate dressings can be used at the same time as silver-based dressings which fight wound infection. The silver in silver-based dressings is released slowly depending on the amount of exudate and bacteria in the wound.

Before starting a wound management program, a non-invasive assessment tool may be used to evaluate the status of the wound. One tool, the Trans-epidermal water loss measurement (TEWL) measures the amount of vapour loss from the skin surface as an indicator of the ability of the skin to retain moisture.

1. Chronic ulcers …
   A  occur extremely frequently
   B  frequently occur in veins
   C  often occur in the lower legs
    
2. The healing of chronic ulcers depends on the …
   A  amount of skin around an ulcer
   B  health of the skin around an ulcer
   C  type of skin around an ulcer
    
3. Moisture balance in an ulcer…
   A  keeps it from being too dry
   B  ensures a wound is wet enough to heal
   C  is managed with different dressings
    
4. Foam dressings are convenient because they …
   A  fit the dimensions of the wound
   B  are easy to use by practitioners
   C  can be used with other dressings
    
5. Alginate dressings are used to …
   A  make a special gel used to heal wounds
   B  provide a soft covering for leg ulcers
   C  take up large amounts of wound discharge
    
6. Silver-based dressings are used because they  …
   A  are a luxury type of dressing
   B  have antimicrobial properties  
   C  release fluid into the wound
    
7. The TEWL is an assessment tool which …
   A  measures water loss from the skin
   B  tests for the presence of vaporised fluid    
   C  checks moisture on the skin surface

Activity 4

Read the abstract and complete the matching activity

Quantitative Evaluation of Maceration in Venous Leg Ulcers by Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL) Measurement
Valentina Dini 1, Sabrina Barbanera 1, Marco Romanelli 2

Abstract

Skin maceration is a clinical manifestation in venous leg ulcers that leads to severe consequences for patients' quality of life and wound management. The aim of this study was to explore the use of transepidermal water loss (TEWL) measurement technique to quantify different level of surrounding skin maceration in patients with venous leg ulcers. A total of 50 patients were recruited and TEWL measurements were taken with a portable device on different locations surrounding the leg ulcer and on control skin. A clinical score for maceration was used and correlated to the involvement of surrounding skin. Statistically significant differences of TEWL values were noted between affected skin and control site (P morphologic changes at different time points during treatment.

Keywords: skin barrier; transepidermal water loss; venous ulcer; wound healing.

© The Author(s) 2014.

Match the terms with their meanings.

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Virginia ALLUM Author and Consultant in English for Medical Purpose