Evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of active specialistic medical dressings in the treatment of decubitus.

INTRODUCTION

Treatment of decubitus ulcers is a grave medical problem. In many cases, it is difficult to cure a pressure ulcer, especially when it is deep and extensive, and prognosis is usually unfavourable. Treatment of decubitus ulcers requires new specialist dressings, which play an important role in the healing process.

AIM

To evaluate therapeutic efficacy of active specialist medical dressings in the treatment of decubitus.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Research involved 40 patients - 18 (45%) women and 22 (55%) men, suffering from decubitus ulcers of different size and depth, localized in the sacral region, lasting from 1.5 to 30 months. Patients were randomly assigned to two research groups (20 people each), were treated for 4 weeks with 2 different specialist dressings. ATRAUMAN Ag, which contains silver ions, was used in the first group, while paraffin gauze of BACTIGRAS type was used in the second group. An assessment of pressure ulcers' healing progress was done with a planimetric method, which evaluates the wound surface area.

RESULTS

The analysis results showed a significant statistical decrease in an average decubitus ulcer surface area in both research groups: in the first group by 60.2% ( = 0.001), and in the second group by 32.95% ( < 0.001), which speaks in favour of dressings with silver ions as having better therapeutic effectiveness.

CONCLUSIONS

Using specialist dressings results in a significant decrease in the decubitus ulcer surface area, depending on the type of dressing and active substances contained within, while silver ions support curative effectiveness of the dressing used.