Unna's boot vs polyurethane foam dressings for the treatment of venous ulceration. A randomized prospective study
J. R. Rubin, J. Alexander, E. J. Plecha and C. Marman
Department of Surgery, Cleveland, Veteran's Administration Medical Center, OH.
Recent reports have suggested that polyurethane foam dressings provide a
more rapid and comfortable healing of venous stasis cutaneous ulcerations
than standard semirigid impregnated gauze dressings. This
multi-institutional study consists of a randomized, prospective comparison
of 36 consecutive patients who were treated with either polyurethane foam
dressings (group 1, n = 17) or Unna's boot (group 2, n = 19) for venous
ulceration of the lower extremities. Ulcer size ranged from 6.0 to 270 cm2
(mean, 32.2 cm2) for group 1 and 0.2 to 600 cm2 (mean, 76.0 cm2) for group
2. Nine (52.9%) of 17 group 1 patients withdrew from the study due to wound
odor, while there was 100% compliance in group 2. Overall wound healing was
superior in group 2 (18 [94.7%] of 19) as compared with group 1 (7 [41.2%]
of 17) (chi 2 = 8.2). The rate of healing was also better in group 2 (0.5
cm2/d) than in group 1 (0.07 cm2/d). Contrary to published European trials,
impregnated gauze dressings exhibited superior treatment results when
compared with polyurethane foam dressings in the current study.
