Consensus Conference on Standardizing Terminology for Venous Leg Ulcers: Increasing Clarity and Communication in Clinical Practice

Significance: Establishing a standardized terminology via mixed research approach to enhance a better way to understand and describe chronic conditions and their related consequences, such as venous insufficiency and related Venous Leg Ulcers that are typically long-lasting and without a permanent cure, using an expert-based recommendation approach.Recent Advances: A panel of experts have developed clinical questions using the PICO method. Literature review has been conducted for relevant documents using CINAHL via EBSCO and MEDLINE via PubMed. Two authors have independently scanned the literature retrieved for eligible documents, following GRADE guidelines for relevance. The eligible documents were included in an evidence synthesis form. A jury of sixteen experts voted on the formulated recommendations using the Delphi method, and a grade of strength was achieved for each recommendation in accordance with the GRADE methodology.Critical Issues: Electronic search conducted retrieved 448 articles via all the clinical queries developed. The research strategy limits included randomised control trial (RCTs) and systematic reviews, not older than ten years, involving only human and written in English as the only language. Zero documents were pertinent to the purpose of this project after the screening. Six recommendations were developed; four of them were approved with strong agreement and two were weakly not recommended.Future Directions: The findings highlight the need for the revision of certain terms used to describe epithelialized venous leg ulcers. This document aims to initiate a discourse, explicitly refraining from advocating the imposition of a new terminology in the field of the venous leg ulcers assessment and management upon the existing lexicon. Limits to our work have been elucidated within the manuscript.