Lymphovenous Canada: Third Congress of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies, One Problem - One Voice

A view from above - display booths a mile long at the Third Congress of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies

Who would have believed that there would be 3,000 people interested enough to come to Toronto Canada to talk about wound healing for one week? Well - there were - and it turns out that many of those people were interested in talking about wound care related to lymphedema as well. Chalk one up for Dr. Gary Sibbald, Elizabeth A. Ayello and Heather Orsted, the University of Toronto, and a whole slew of other Canadian wound care dynamos who brought this very successful conference to Toronto June 4-8, 2008.

Cathy McPherson, manager and administrator of the Lymphovenous Canada web site, moderated two sessions on lymmphedema and wound care with Dr. Terence Ryan of Oxford University. These were: Lymphedema, Global Perspectives, and Lymphedema, Leg Ulcers.

The speakers at the two workshops were well known to many of the people who attended. Dr. John MacDonald is past-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Wound Care, and also runs a U.S. centre which treats persons with lymphedema. Dr. Caroline Fife has a clinic in the U.S. which deals with patients who are obese and as a result of their weight often develop lymphedema. Two other panelists were Dr. Christine Moffat, Professor of Nursing at the Thames Valley University in London, and Dr. Phillip Morgan, International Project Director, International Lymphoedema Framework, who have been working long and hard with lymphedema groups and specialists in the UK to develop a consensus document on the treatment of lymphedema.

Ryan, MacDonald, Moffat and Morgan are currently involved in a WHO working group on the Integration of Wound-Lymphedema Management aimed at producing a white paper with best practice recommendations in this area.

• To get a conference booklet, abstracts and other information from the World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) visit their web site at: www.worldunion2008.com.
• Visit the newly established (2007) WOUNDPEDIA- a web-based free content encyclopedia project designed to become one of the large wound care evidence reference web sites in the world at: www.woundpedia.com.
• Learn more about the International Lymphoedema Framework at: click here
• Find out more about the WHO working group on the Integration of Wound-Lymphedema Management white paper at: www.journaloflymphoedema.com