A clinical and laboratory evaluation of a polyurethane foam: a new donor site dressing.

A polyurethane foam (Lyofoam) has been reported to accelerate epithelization of a wound. The purpose of this study was to evaluate its efficacy as a donor-site dressing for thermally injured patients. Thus, partial-thickness injuries were made in ten pigs and covered with Lyofoam, Xeroform, Telfa, Scarlet Red, and fine-mesh gauze. Gross and histologic examinations failed to show accelerated healing under the Lyofoam dressing but did show that Scarlet Red covered donor sites healed the fastest. On clinical evaluation, nine patients only showed that Lyofoam separated earlier from the underlying wound but there was no evidence to suggest that the wound was more mature than that covered with fine-mesh gauze.