Disease State: Surgical and Traumatic Scarring

Background

Surgery and trauma to the skin can result in persistent, visible textural changes of the skin, known as scarring. Scarring is one of the most common complications to arise from surgery and trauma to the skin and can lead to unwanted physical and emotional symptoms. Current treatments for surgical and traumatic scars include topical ointments, dermabrasion and other resurfacing techniques, lasers, and revision surgeries. There are many clinical trials that evaluate treatment measures for surgical and traumatic scarring, yet heterogeneity between reported outcomes still exists. A standardized set of outcomes reported as a minimum for clinical trials of surgical and traumatic scarring would ensure consistency in future research.

Project Goal

The IMPROVED group aims to develop a global Core Outcome Set (COS) relevant to surgical and traumatic scarring by conducting a systematic review, patient interviews, review of printed and electronic sources, and stakeholder interviews. A list of outcomes will undergo the Delphi consensus process to create a COS that should be reported for all clinical trials of surgical and traumatic scarring. From this COS, we plan to create outcome measurement instruments pertinent to each domain of the core set.

Project Lead

Murad Alam

Key Project Team Members

Steering Committee

Murad Alam

Joseph Sobanko

Ian Maher

Todd V. Cartee

C3 Methods Partner

Jamie Kirkham

Contact

Murad Alam (m-alam@northwestern.edu)

Publications

 

Updated on October 23, 2023