Open surgical wounds: how does Aquacel compare with wet-to-dry gauze?

Abstract

Aquacel appears to be at least as effective as wet-to-dry gauze in the healing of open surgical wounds.

Avaliação da resposta inflamatória traqueal ao curativo de celulose bacteriana após escarificação cirúrgica em coelhos

“…Our results are consistent with the findings or other experimental studies done on cellulose dressings in which purulent exudates were not statistically significant [23][24][25][26] . c) Acute inflammation (Picture 7) -our study did not reveal any statistically significant differences between inflammatory response of control group members submitted only to scarification and case group subjects submitted to scarification and cellulose dressing placement.…”

“…In the group at 180 days after surgery only one subject had mild vascular congestion, indicating that although initially the dressing may exacerbate vascular congestion and consequently inflammation, later on the process evolves to become quite similar to spontaneous healing, as observed in papers looking at graft biocompatibility in which edema and inflammation set in around the implant for the first days, only to subside later on 21,22 . This result is similar to that of other experimental studies with cellulose dressings, indicating that such a dressing does not impact healing intensity or time [23][24][25][26] . b) Purulent exudate -there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in time analyzed for purulent exudate when comparing control group subjects submitted only to subglottic scarification to case of the cellulose produced by Acetobacter xylinum bacteria.…”

“…Cohn (2004) compared cellulose hydrofiber and saline drenched gauze dressings and could not find extended inflammation and consequent delayed healing.…”

“…The cellulose dressing did not lead to exacerbated or extended inflammation due to its physical and biocompatibility characteristics, such as porosity, surface texture, consistence, and chemical properties, which altogether promote improved tissue response thus not perpetuating the inflammatory process [23][24][25] . One important aspect is the ability of the dressing to contain exudates, thus forming an adhesive gel that effectively encapsulates and immobilizes potentially harmful bacterial populations, which would otherwise exacerbate inflammation.…”

“…Other studies showed that Bionext® does not change the velocity or strength of the healing process, thus concluding that the dressing acts quite positively upon the healing process [20][21][22][23]25,27 . c) Granulomatous response: no statistically significant differences were verified between control and case group members with cellulose dressing through time, whether it was 7, 30, 90, or 180 days after surgery.…”