title: Evaluation of a bi-layer wound dressing for burn care I. Cooling and wound healing properties.
abstract: Severe burns remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality despite the availability of numerous therapies. We assessed the wound healing and skin-cooling properties of a DRDC hydrogel/polyurethane wound dressing using different pre-clinical models. Our results show that 85% of partial-thickness, non-contaminated porcine wounds treated with our dressing healed within 6 days. In contrast, 85% of the wounds treated with commercial dressings healed within 8 days. Application of a moist DRDC dressing (to simulate a condition of exudate absorption) on a scald burn covering 25% of the dorsal area in rats reduced skin temperature by 1.70 +/- 0.14 degrees C for 5 min, the skin temperature being comparable to that of control burned rats after 20 min. The application of a moist DRDC dressing did not induce significant differences in body temperatures compared with that of burned animals without dressing coverage throughout the 90-min experiment. While no change in body temperatures were observed when standard dressings (i.e., not pre-moistened) were applied, skin temperature increased gradually. These data show that our dressing is effective in promoting faster healing of the treated wound; and providing a transient, but beneficial cooling effect to the skin contact-site, without the adverse effect of inducing whole-body hypothermia.
authors.affiliation: Operational Medicine Section, Trauma Group, Defence Research & Development Canada, DRDC - Toronto, 1133 Sheppard Avenue West, Toronto, Ont., Canada M3M 3B9. lucie.martineau@drdc-rddc.gc.ca
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martineau
authors.forename: Pang N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Shek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001458:Bandages; D002056:Burns / Q000628:therapy*; D017679:Cryotherapy / Q000379:methods; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013552:Swine; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D011140:Polyurethanes