A Randomized Comparison Study of Aquacel Ag and Glucan II as Donor Site Dressings With Regard to Healing Time, Cosmesis, Infection Rate, and Patientʼs Perceived Pain: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This study was undertaken to compare pain, healing time, infection rate, and cosmetic outcome between Aquacel Ag (Convatec) and Glucan II (Brennan Medical) as donor site dressings. The authors performed a prospective, randomized, patient-controlled study. Eligible patients had two donor sites harvested. One site was dressed with Aquacel Ag and the other site with Glucan II. Patients were followed at set time points for 6 months to determine the rate of epithelialization, patient's perceived pain, infection rate, and the cosmetic outcome. A total of 20 patients were enrolled in the study. All patient data were collected through reepithelialization. The average time to wound healing for Aquacel Ag was 12.5 ± 2.07 days compared with Glucan II 12.7 ± 1.99 days. Perceived pain scores for each donor site were recorded. On postoperative day 5, patients reported significantly less pain with the Aquacel Ag site (Aquacel Ag 1.75 vs Glucan II 2.5, P = .02). Three donor sites showed clinical signs of infection (two Glucan II and one Aquacel Ag) prompting culture and dressing removal. There was no statistically significant difference in cosmetic outcomes of the donor sites at any time point. When comparing Aquacel Ag and Glucan II, our study has determined that there is no significant difference with regard to healing time, infection rates, and cosmetic outcomes. Both dressings are comparable with regard to ease of application and postoperative care.

Comparison of the efficacy and safety of povidone‐iodine foam dressing (Betafoam), hydrocellular foam dressing (Allevyn), and petrolatum gauze for split‐thickness skin graft donor site dressing

“…Although the risk of donor site infection is low in split‐thickness skin grafts, an infected donor site can lead to prolonged hospitalisation and increase the cost of management . Several studies have explored the use of antimicrobial dressing products for donor site wounds with favourable outcomes . PVP‐I foam dressing contains the antimicrobial agent PVP‐I.…”

“…2 Several studies have explored the use of antimicrobial dressing products for donor site wounds with favourable outcomes. 13,14,18,19 PVP-I foam dressing contains the antimicrobial agent PVP-I. Compared with silver, a popular antimicrobial agent used in wound dressings, PVP-I is effective against a broader range of wound pathogens, lacks bacterial resistance, and is less cytotoxic to host cells.…”

Management of Pediatric Skin-Graft Donor Sites

“…This use of an overlay when using Aquacel has been reported by other researchers to accommodate shrinkage. 22 There were no reports of adherence of the secondary dressings in the Kaltostat and Aquacel groups, which we attribute to the use of the overlay.…”

“…3 The use of antimicrobial dressing products for donor sites has been explored with several studies supporting the use of these products. 11,22,33,34 However, donor site infection is not a common occurrence in children in our unit and one must balance the benefit of using antimicrobial products on children against the potential risks of sensitivity or percutaneous absorption of the active agents in the dressings.…”

“…The healing times found in this trial are consistent with the expected healing time of 7 to 14 days for a split thickness donor site, 1 but sooner than the healing times reported in several studies which investigated the products used in this trial. 11,[22][23][24] While wound healing in children generally follows a similar trajectory to adults, children usually experience earlier wound closure because of the presence of greater numbers of fibroblasts, faster production of collagen and elastin, and a more rapid formation of granulation tissue compared to adults. 25 Outcome measures which relate to the patient experience, including pain, discomfort, or exudate management, contribute additional insight into the efficacy of a dressing product.…”