title: Healing of burn wounds by topical treatment: A randomized controlled comparison between silver sulfadiazine and nano-crystalline silver.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Silver sulfadiazine (SSD) has been the standard topical antimicrobial for burn wounds for decades. Recently, nanometer-sized silver particles are available which have high surface to volume ratio and remain effective even at a very low concentration and minimizes the chance for tissue toxicity due to silver. Hence, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare the effectiveness of topical SSD and nano-crystalline silver (AgNP) hydrogel in burn wounds management.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study was conducted in the Burn Unit of IPGME&R & SSKM Hospital Calcutta, from January 2011 to August 2012. Patients with 2° burn injury were randomly allocated to SSD and AgNP treatment group. Clinical assessments of burn wound were done on every week till 4(th) week and on completion of treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data for evaluation were obtained for 54 patients on SSD (2° deep-dermal cases 27) and 52 (2° deep-dermal cases 31) on AgNP treatment. Healing status of 2° deep-dermal burns was more satisfactory for AgNP group than SSD treatment at 4 weeks. Among patients receiving AgNP, 80.6% showed at least 50% healing of 2° deep-dermal wounds compared to 48.1% on SSD at 4 weeks (P = 0.001). The figures for complete healing at 4 weeks were, respectively, 4% and 0% (P = 0.116).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AgNP can be an effective and superior alternative to SSD for burn wounds, particularly 2° deep-dermal burns. Healing can be expected, in general, in 6 to 8 weeks time, depending upon the extent of body surface involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adhya
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Jayanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bain
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Oindri
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Department of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Avijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hazra
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Souvik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adhikari
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Gouranga
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Sudhin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Bijay Kumar
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Majumdar
keywords: Burn wound assessment; nano-crystalline silver; silver sulfadiazine