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A combined team of researchers from Boston University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, also in Boston, has published a paper in the journal Angewandte Chemie describing a new type of hydrogel they have developed for use as a bandage for burn patients—one that can be removed by applying another liquid rather than by cutting, as is done with conventional bandages.
Everyone knows that it hurts when your skin is burned, but few people ever have to undergo the excruciatingly painful experience of having bandages replaced after a serious burn—a process called debridement because it involves cutting healthy skin around the burn site—and worse, it must be done over and over while the skin heals. Doctors and patients agree that bandage removal is almost as painful as the initial burn …
A hydrogel, as its name implies, is a gel that has water as its liquid component. … They report that the hydrogel is also able to remove excess fluid from the wound and maintains a highly humid environment that is conducive to healing.
Thus far, the researchers have only tested their hydrogel on rats with skin burns—such tests so far have proven to be successful, they report—the gel has remained in place and protected the wound and has proven to be easily removable. More tests will have to be done, of course, to ensure that the gel is safe for humans, but the team is optimistic—they hope to launch clinical trials within the next two years.
An abstract is available: DOI: 10.1002/anie.201604827
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 31 2016, @01:32PM
"painful experience of having bandages replaced after a serious burn—a process called debridement . . . cutting healthy skin around the burn site"
Actually, no. I've been intimately involved with debridement, on my own person, as well as on my own son. One can change dressings without doing any debriding. One can debride a burn without dressing the burn. The two processes are distinctly different. Further, debriding does not involve cutting away healthy tissue, per se.
Debriding a burn involves scrubbing away dead tissue, as well as selectively scrubbing away those little pink polka dots of seemingly healthy tissue that pop up in the burn. One DOES NOT cut away healthy tissue surrounding the wound, except in rare cases when the healthy tissue threatens to extend out over the burn, and cover it.
A better definition of debridement would be:
Debridement
The word debridement is derived from the French word ‘to remove constraints’. Within woundcare, debridement refers to the removal of adherent, dead or contaminated tissue from the wound. It is clearly separated from the act of wound cleansing which is defined as the removal of dirt, foreign material or metabolic waste.1
http://www.independentnurse.co.uk/clinical-article/a-guide-to-wound-debridement/114500/ [independentnurse.co.uk]
See also http://www.burn-injury-resource-center.com/2015/12/third-degree-burn-wound-cleaning.html [burn-injury-resource-center.com]
I would presume that the author and the editor of the article have made this error, and that the researchers know better.
All of that said, dressings do tend to stick to the wound. And, yes it is often painful to remove dressings. This sounds like it could be the best thing since Silvadene Cream.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:22PM
I know someone who was a physical therapist. She hated having to put burned children into the Hubbard tank for debridement.