Effects of silver alginate dressing for diabetic foot ulcers

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of silver alginate dressing for wounds of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) . Methods From April 2017 to April 2018, we selected 120 DFU patients of Peking Union Medical College Hospital as subjects by convenience sampling. All of the patients were divided into control group and observation group with the random number table, 60 cases in each group. Observation group received the treatment of silver alginate dressing, while control group was treated with alginate dressing. After treatment, we compared the score of visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after treatment, times of changing dressing, time of wound healing and the healing rate of ulcer of patients after treatment between two groups. Results After treatment, the score of VAS, time of wound healing and times of changing dressing was (2.5±0.6) , (42±3.9) d and (14.3±1.9) respectively of observation group lower than those of control group with significant differences (t=13.964, 22.241, 21.122; P<0.01) . The healing rate of ulcer of observation group and control group was 93.3% and 75.0% respectively with a significant difference (χ2=23.564, P<0.01) . Conclusions The silver alginate dressing can promote the wound healing of DFU, shorten the time of healing, reduce the times of changing dressing and ease patients' pain. Key words: Diabetic foot; Silver ion; Alginate; Pain; Wound healing