Benefit over conventional therapy during first week of treatment loses significance by day 15
TUESDAY, Dec. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Compared with conventional therapy, wound debridement is significantly faster with maggot therapy during the first week of treatment, but there is no significant difference at day 15, according to a study published online Dec. 19 in the Archives of Dermatology.
Kristina Opletalová, M.D., from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Caen in France, and colleagues compared the efficacy of bagged larvae and conventional treatment on wound debridement. A total of 119 patients who had a non-healing, 40 cm² or smaller sloughy wounds, less than 2 cm deep, and an ankle brachial index of 0.8 or higher, were randomized to receive either maggot debridement therapy (MDT) or conventional treatment (control) during a two-week hospital stay. Conventional dressings were applied at discharge, and follow-up was conducted at day 30. The percentage of slough in wounds at day 15 was the main outcome measured.
The investigators found that the percentage of slough was significantly lower in the MDT group versus the control group at day eight (54.5 versus 66.5 percent). At day 15, the mean percentage of slough in the MDT and control groups was 55.4 and 53.8 percent, respectively (P = 0.78).
"Although MDT shows no significant benefit at day 15 compared with conventional treatment, debridement by MDT is significantly faster and occurs during the first week of treatment. Because there is no benefit in continuing the treatment after one week, another type of dressing should be used after two or three applications of MDT," the authors write.
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