Harish Rao , Ashwin Pai , Irshad Hussein , Anand Arun , Hs Shankar Ram , Aparna Pai , Sheila R Pai , Shobha G Pain
BACKGROUND Treatment of foot ulcer remains a major health-care issue; and especially diabetic foot ulcer which is the commonest cause of lower-extremity amputation. Although several investigations have examined topical collagen-based dressings, none have specifically looked in India. We, therefore, evaluated the effect of the collagen dressing on foot ulcer.
METHODS A Hundred patients with foot ulcer were evaluated. A collagen or conventional dressings were applied, and the patients were followed as per standard post-application treatment protocol. Patients underwent dressing changes every 3 to 4 days until wound healing or for maximum period of 12 weeks. Changes in wound size were recorded when the dressing was removed; and at 4 and 12 weeks. RESULTS In 75 patients collagen dressing was applied, whereas conventional dressing in 25 patients. All the patients were prospectively available for evaluation. On enrollment, the median wound size was 33.5 cm2 in collagen dressing group and 48 cm2 in conventional dressing group. Healing time (4.02 ± 0.59 Vs 7.6 ±1.38), duration of antibiotic therapy (15.12±4.55 Vs 24.08± 6.5) and mean follow up period (2.40 ± 0.61 Vs 2.96 ± 1.2) were significantly less in collagen dressing group as compared to conventional dressing group (P<0.001). No adverse event was reported in both the groups. CONCLUSIONS Collagen dressing is safe and effective in the treatment of foot ulcer and significantly reduces healing time, duration of antibiotic therapy and follow up time.
