  Chronic wounds fail to proceed through an orderly and timely self healing
process, resulting in cutaneous damage with full thickness in depth and leading
to a major healthcare and economic burden worldwide. In the UK alone, 200,000
patients suffer from a chronic wound, whilst the global advanced wound care
market is expected to reach nearly $11 million in 2022. Despite extensive
research efforts so far, clinically-approved chronic wound therapies are still
time-consuming, economically unaffordable and present restricted customisation.
In this chapter, the role of collagen in the extracellular matrix of biological
tissues and wound healing will be discussed, together with its use as building
block for the manufacture of advanced wound dressings. Commercially-available
collagen dressings and respective clinical performance will be presented,
followed by an overview on the latest research advances in the context of
multifunctional collagen systems for advanced wound care.
