Clinical Efficacy Test of Polyester Dressing Containing Herbal Extracts and Silver Sulfadiazine Cream Compared with Silver Sulfadiazine Cream in Healing Burn Wounds: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objective: The most common method of burn wound care is the application of silver sulfadiazine cream with sterilized gauze covering. However, conventional gauze fabric with a large pore size may stick to the wound bed and cause wound trauma, leading to the delay of healing and pain. The non-adherent property of a hydrocolloid dressing coated with herbal extract (SI-HERB) can promote wound healing as well as reduce pain. Thus, this study aims to compare clinical efficacy between a “polyester dressing containing herbal extracts and silver sulfadiazine cream” and “silver sulfadiazine cream” alone in second degree burn wound healing. Materials and Methods: This study compared the two methods of burn wound treatment in the same patients, who were randomly split into a “treatment group”, which were applied both silver sulfadiazine cream and hydrocolloid dressing, and “control group”, which were applied only silver sulfadiazine cream. The studied outcomes were the number of days for wound closure, the percentage epithelialization, and the pain score. In total, 24 patients at the Burn Unit, Siriraj Hospital were enrolled in this study. Results: The wound areas were initially ranged from 210–220 cm2. The treatment group exhibited significant results regarding faster wound healing, referring to the number of days of wound closure (18 days in the control group vs. 15 days in the experimental group) and the percentage epithelialization compared to the control group. The average pain score in the experimental group was also lower on days 9, 12, and 15 after treatment (p < 0.05). No adverse effects were observed during the study. Conclusion: The combination of hydrocolloid dressing and silver sulfadiazine cream could reduce the wound shearing force and wound bed injury, accelerating the rate of wound closure and decreasing the pain during changing the dressing. This technique could improve upon the standard burn wound treatment.