Gefen Amit
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
J Wound Care. 2021 Sep 2;30(9):738-750. doi: 10.12968/jowc.2021.30.9.738.
Among the advanced wound dressing types, superabsorbent (SA) dressings form an important class of dressings, particularly for the management of medium to highly exuding wounds. However, SA dressings are not all made the same. This educational article describes distinct, common SA dressing designs, which differ fundamentally in structure and composition, and, thereby, in their exudate absorption function and clinical efficacy. The diverse design families of SA dressings, including dressings with an SA polymer-sheet core, versus dressings with an air laid core, where the SA polymer grains are embedded in fluff, relate to different manufacturing processes, production techniques and associated fabrication costs. These fundamental structural and material differences across SA dressing designs from different manufacturers naturally lead to wide variations in the fluid handling characteristics of the products, which are analysed here using both theoretical and experimental bioengineering laboratory approaches. This work is primarily aimed at promoting critical thinking among health professionals who should ask manufacturers to present relevant testing data for an informed clinical decision-making with regards to the choice of the safest and best performing SA dressing for each treated wound case.
在先进的伤口敷料类型中，高吸水性（SA）敷料是一类重要的敷料，尤其适用于中等到高度渗出性伤口的处理。然而，SA敷料并非都是一样的。这篇教育文章描述了不同的、常见的SA敷料设计，它们在结构和成分上有根本差异，因此在渗出液吸收功能和临床疗效方面也有所不同。SA敷料的多种设计类型，包括具有SA聚合物片芯的敷料，与具有气流成网芯的敷料（其中SA聚合物颗粒嵌入绒毛中），涉及不同的制造工艺、生产技术和相关的制造成本。不同制造商的SA敷料设计在这些基本结构和材料上的差异自然导致产品的流体处理特性有很大差异，本文使用理论和实验生物工程实验室方法对其进行了分析。这项工作主要旨在促进卫生专业人员的批判性思维，他们应要求制造商提供相关测试数据，以便在为每个治疗的伤口病例选择最安全、性能最佳的SA敷料时做出明智的临床决策。
