Abstract

VERDU SORIANO, José; NOLASCO BONMATI, Andreu; LOPEZ CASANOVA, Pablo  and  TORRA I BOU, Joan-Enric. The use of Allevyn^® hydrocellular dressings range in acute wounds-AURIGA-04 study in primary care. Gerokomos [online]. 2006, vol.17, n.3, pp.145-153. ISSN 1134-928X.

Although moist environment dressings have mainly been used for chronic wounds, they can also be used on acute wounds in order to achieve an optimum atmosphere that facilitates epithelial migration, providing adequate protection for the wounds as well as good exudate management. Hence, as part of the AURIGA- 04 study, an observational study was carried out at different centres, involving repeated measures on a group of patients who presented diverse acute wounds, including patients with traumatic wounds, surgical wounds or burns treated by primary care professionals. The aim of this study was to find evidence about the use of moist environment dressings, specifically the Allevyn^® range of hydrocellular dressings, in the treatment of acute wounds. The exclusion criterion considered was if the wounds had clinical signs of infection. Only one wound was included per patient. In the case of patients with acute wounds, the study sample was made up of 61 patients with an average age of 71.1; 36 cases were women (60%). The patient's general state of health was good in 49.1% of cases and practically all the patients presented multiple pathologies. 10% of the patients were taking medication that could interfere with the healing process and 6% of the patients presented signs of malnutrition. 67.2% of the wounds were traumatic in origin, 24.6% were surgical and 8.2% were burns. 37% of the wounds were classified as superficial and the remaining 63% were deep. The wounds had been present for 64 days before the patient's inclusion in the study and the average surface area was 23.34 cm². The patients remained in the study programme for an average of 43.6 days and their dressings were changed every 2.7 days. During the study, 63.9% of the wounds healed in an average of 40.9 days. The initial surface area of the wounds was reduced significantly over the monitoring period (initial: 23.34 cm², final: 4.27 cm², p ≤ 0.001). When Cox regression models were applied, the age of the patient was only statistically significant in the group with traumatic wounds (RR: -0.03, p= 0.039). During the monitoring period, 80.3% of the patients were also treated with Intrasite Conformable^®, Iruxol Mono® or a combination of both products. The professionals that treated the wounds with Allevyn^® rated the product very highly throughout the study; in over 96% of dressing changes, they were assessed as very easy to apply, 100% painless and also 100% easy to remove. Given these results, moist environment dressings, particularly the Allevyn^® range of dressings, have a clear application in the case of acute wounds, permitting optimum local treatment of the wounds, providing optimum levels of moisture, pH and temperature for the cells involved in the healing process. Thus the formation of granulation tissue is promoted and epithelisation is facilitated. Furthermore, the wound is also protected from traumas and germs.

Keywords : Dressings; moist environment; acute wounds; primary care.

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