Wound repair and regeneration : official publication of the Wound Healing Society [and] the European Tissue Repair Society
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
A randomized controlled trial of larval therapy for the debridement of leg ulcers: results of a multicenter, randomized, controlled, open, observer blind, parallel group study.
It has been known for centuries that the application of larvae is useful to heal certain wounds by facilitating debridement of necrotic tissue,(1) yet the efficacy of larval therapy continues to be debatable. This study compared the clinical effectiveness of a larval therapy dressing (BioFOAM) with a standard debridement technique (Purilon gel; hydrogel) in terms of time to debridement of venous (VLU) or mixed arterial/venous (MLU) leg ulcers. Data analyses were conducted on 88 subjects. ⋯ There were no statistically significant differences in the clinical condition of the wound bed and surrounding skin by intervention. Subjects in the larvae arm experienced more ulcer-related pain or discomfort than subjects in the hydrogel arm (p < 0.001). This study provided good evidence to show that larval therapy, in the form of a BioFOAM dressing, debrided VLU and MLU considerably more quickly than a hydrogel, although the possibility of resloughing should be closely monitored.