Methods used in the study,Evaluation of a polyurethane foam dressing impregnated with 3% povidone-iodine (Betafoam) in a rat wound model, led to unreliable results

Commentary: Response of Human Macrophages to Clinically Applied Wound Dressings Loaded With Silver

“…This renders the results of the bactericidal and cytotoxicity aspects of this study clinically irrelevant. And, testing any configuration of PMDs in vitro (or ex vivo ) will fail to capture all the benefits of PolyMem dressings which are achieved through their complex synergistic interaction with the patient's body, such as controlling and focusing inflammation, continuously cleansing wounds, and balancing moisture (Weissman et al, 2013 ; Benskin, 2016a , b ; Benskin, 2018 ).…”

“…PolyMem WIC dressings gradually release glycerol, which draws fluid from the body into the wound bed (Cutting et al, 2015 ; Benskin, 2016b , 2018 ). From there, the fluid is absorbed by the superabsorbent within the dressings and the dressing substrate itself (Cutting et al, 2015 ; Benskin, 2016b , 2018 ).…”

“…PolyMem WIC dressings gradually release glycerol, which draws fluid from the body into the wound bed (Cutting et al, 2015 ; Benskin, 2016b , 2018 ). From there, the fluid is absorbed by the superabsorbent within the dressings and the dressing substrate itself (Cutting et al, 2015 ; Benskin, 2016b , 2018 ). Without a body to donate fluid, both the standard and the silver PolyMem WIC entrapped a part of the agar in the dressing, providing evidence of desiccation and a failure of the experimental model (Benskin, 2016a , b ; Varela et al, 2020 ).…”

“…As the authors noted, rather than distributing cytotoxic silver into the wound bed like the other silver test dressings, PolyMem Silver's continuous wound cleansing system interacts with the body to dislodge wound pathogens and pull them into contact with silver locked in the dressing (Burd et al, 2007 ; Benskin, 2012 , 2018 ; Varela et al, 2020 ). Rather, in vitro , PolyMem WIC had no body from which to draw new moisture to replace what was absorbed, impairing the ordinarily robust moisture-balancing system and leading to cell death by desiccation (Benskin, 2016a , 2018 ).…”

“…Kahn et al, found that bruising and edema were dramatically reduced when PolyMem was applied to intact skin immediately following deep tissue mechanical trauma (Kahn et al, 2000). Varela et al could not measure these critical distinctions between PolyMem and other wound dressings with respect to inflammation because in vitro models cannot include an intact central nervous system (Benskin, 2018;Varela et al, 2020).…”