Study: Tangential curettage may improve wound infection detection

A new peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Wound Care found that a tangential curettage biopsy brush recovered more microbial material than a flocked swab in hard-to-heal wounds, and in many cases changed how infection versus colonization was interpreted. The findings could matter for clinicians trying to detect organisms that surface swabs miss in chronic wounds.

Why it matters: - Hard-to-heal wounds can contain microbes at different depths and locations, making superficial sampling incomplete. - The study suggests wound biopsy technique can change whether clinicians see a microbial burden as colonization or infection. - Better sampling may improve precision wound diagnostics when treatment decisions depend on microbial load or resistance targets.

What happened: - Histologics LLC highlighted a newly published peer-reviewed study in the August 2026 issue of the Journal of Wound Care. - The study compared a flocked wound swab with a nylon fabric curettage brush that incorporates Kylon® fabric. - Researchers evaluated paired samples from eight patients with hard-to-heal wounds. - The investigation used the same validated molecular PCR methodology for both specimen types. - The manuscript title was “Comparing flocked swab to nylon fabric curettage brush for the detection of infections in hard-to-heal wounds.”

The details: - Pathogen detection concordance between the two sampling methods was 65%. - The curettage biopsy showed 84% sensitivity, compared with 81% for the flocked swab. - Curettage biopsy specimens produced about 30% greater nucleic-acid recovery. - In 71% of paired targets, the biopsy brush produced lower PCR cycle-threshold values, which indicates greater target nucleic acid recovery. - For 41% of microbial and resistance-gene targets, the extra material from curettage changed the predefined interpretation from colonization to infection. - At the patient level, the sampling method changed the infection classification in 50% of patients. - The study was a retrospective, blinded paired-sample case series. - The manuscript states that the nylon fabric curettage biopsy device is marketed by Histologics LLC. - The manuscript also states that co-author Neal Lonky, MD, MPH, is Founder and CEO of Histologics LLC. - The article cited the study by Pejman Rahimian, PhD, Neal Lonky, MD, MPH, and Michael Low, titled “Comparing flocked swab to nylon fabric curettage brush for the detection of infections in hard-to-heal wounds.” - The study was published in Journal of Wound Care 2026;35(8):654–661, doi:10.12968/jowc.2025.0575. - Histologics describes its Kylon® platform as a hooked brush array medical fabric used to remove tissue for diagnostics and therapeutic removal of diseased tissue. - Histologics says the company focuses on women’s health, advanced wound care and veterinary medicine. - Histologics says a compendium of research and clinical evidence is available at more information.

Between the lines: - The study adds to a broader diagnostic debate over whether wound testing should prioritize speed and convenience or deeper, more representative tissue sampling. - Molecular tests can only detect organisms captured in the specimen, so specimen collection remains a limiting step. - The results suggest broad tangential sampling may reach microbial communities that focal punch biopsy or surface swabbing can miss. - The small sample size means the findings are directional rather than definitive.

What's next: - Clinicians and wound-care researchers may look for larger studies to confirm whether tangential curettage improves diagnostic accuracy in broader patient groups. - Future work will likely test whether improved microbial detection leads to better treatment decisions and wound outcomes. - The wound-diagnostics field may continue comparing tissue-based sampling methods against conventional swabs for microbial burden and resistance detection.

The bottom line: - The study suggests that how a wound is sampled can matter as much as the lab test that follows.