Biological binding mesh helps with negative pressure healing

A bacteria- and fungi-binding mesh dressing should be a wound care layer of choice when chronic wounds are treated with negative pressure wound therapy.

Italian researchers observed 50 patients with Stage 3 and Stage 4 wounds, examining biopsies and the mesh dressings for bacterial load at 48 hours and seven days. The wounds were in the sacrum of most patients, but also were in the trochanter, the tibial crest, foot, buttock, and above the knee in other patients.

The researchers at the Wound Care Centre, at San Leonardo Hospital in Naples reported the dressing was most critical for patients with moderate or high levels of colonization.

The mesh irreversibly binds bacteria without chemical agents and has been shown to reduce microbial loads without the development of resistance.

The researchers theorized the dressing traps superficial bacteria, helping to prevent further bacterial multiplication and supporting the patient’s ability to gain control over invading microorganisms.

They measured bacterial load by performing a one-punch biopsy in the middle of Stage 3 and Stage 4 pressure ulcers in the sacral or trochanteric areas, which are typically desensitized to pain. In the 27 cases with the highest initial bacterial loads, all except four saw a significant reduction.

Results appeared in the August 15 Wounds Epub.