Chronic skin wounds are the leading cause of nontraumatic foot amputations worldwide and present a significant risk of morbidity and mortality due to the lack of efficient therapies. The intrinsic characteristics of hydrogels allow them to benefit cutaneous healing essentially by supporting a moist environment. This property has long been explored in wound management to aid in autolytic debridement. However, chronic wounds require additional therapeutic features that can be provided by a combination of hydrogels with biochemical mediators or cells, promoting faster and better healing. We survey hydrogel-based approaches with potential to improve the healing of chronic wounds by reviewing their effects as observed in preclinical models. Topics covered include strategies to ablate infection and resolve inflammation, the delivery of bioactive agents to accelerate healing, and tissue engineering approaches for skin regeneration. The article concludes by considering the relevance of treating chronic skin wounds using hydrogel-based strategies.

中文翻译：

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基于水凝胶的策略可改善慢性皮肤伤口的治疗方法。

慢性皮肤伤口是世界范围内非创伤性截肢的主要原因，由于缺乏有效的治疗方法，因此存在严重的发病和死亡风险。水凝胶的内在特性使它们基本上可以通过支持潮湿的环境而受益于皮肤愈合。长期以来，在伤口处理中一直探索该特性以帮助自溶性清创术。但是，慢性伤口需要通过水凝胶与生化介质或细胞结合来提供的其他治疗功能，从而促进更快更好的愈合。我们通过审查临床前模型中观察到的效果，调查了基于水凝胶的方法，这些方法具有改善慢性伤口愈合的潜力。涵盖的主题包括消除感染和解决炎症的策略，生物活性剂的交付以加速愈合，皮肤再生的组织工程方法。本文的结论是考虑使用基于水凝胶的策略治疗慢性皮肤伤口的相关性。