Journal of vascular surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized trial of the Tubulcus multilayer bandaging system in the treatment of extensive venous ulcers.
Venous ulcers are a major health problem because of their high prevalence and associated high cost of care. Compression therapy is the most widely used treatment for this condition. The vast majority of published articles on compression therapy present the results in the treatment of venous ulcers usually up to 15 to 20 cm(2). However, there are no published data in English medical literature on the efficacy of compression therapy in the treatment of extensive venous ulcers (ulcers >20 cm(2) of more than 6 months' duration) with regard to healing rate, time to healing, and recurrence rate at 12 months after healing. ⋯ This study suggests that for extensive venous ulceration, multilayer compression therapy with the Tubulcus provides an extremely high healing rate. Compression of more than 30 mm Hg results in decreased ulcer recurrence. However, recurrence cannot be completely avoided.