Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of octenidine wound gel in the treatment of chronic venous leg ulcers in comparison to modern wound dressings.

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of an octenidine-based wound gel in the treatment of chronic venous leg ulcers. For this purpose, 49 wounds were treated with either modern wound-phase-adapted dressings alone (treatment arm 1; n = 17), octenidine wound gel plus modern wound-phase-adapted dressings (treatment arm 2; n = 17) or octenidine wound gel alone (treatment arm 3; n = 15). During the study period of 42 days with dressing changes every 3-5 days, wound healing characteristics and treatment costs of different dressings were analysed. Wound size reduction was significantly better (P = 0·028) in both octenidine wound gel treatment arms compared to modern dressings alone with total reductions of 14·6%, 64·1% and 96·2% in treatment arms 1-3. Early wound healing was merely observed under octenidine wound gel treatment (n = 9), whereby lowest treatment costs were generated by octenidine wound gel alone (€20·34/dressing change). As a result, the octenidine wound gel is cost-effective and well suitable for the treatment of chronic venous leg ulcers, considering both safety and promotion of wound healing.