Meta-analysis of the effects of xenogeneic acellular dermal matrix dressings in the treatment of wounds in burn patients

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of xenogeneic acellular dermal matrix (ADM) dressings for the treatment of wounds in burn patients. Methods: The meta-analysis method was adopted. Databases including Chinese Journal Full-text Database, Wanfang Database, VIP Database, and Chinese Biomedical Database were retrieved with the search terms in Chinese version of ", , , " and PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were retrieved with the search terms in English version of "xenogeneic acellular dermal matrix, dressing, burn wound, burn" to obtain the publicly published randomized controlled trials on the efficacy of xenogeneic ADM dressings for the treatment of wounds in burn patients from the establishment of each database to December 2021. The outcome indexes included wound healing time, ratio of scar hyperplasia, Vancouver scar scale (VSS) score, ratio of complications, ratio of skin grafting, and ratio of bacteria detection. Rev Man 5.3 and Stata 14.0 statistical softwares were used to conduct a meta-analysis of eligible studies. Results: A total of 1 596 burn patients from 16 studies were included, including 835 patients in experimental group who received xenogeneic ADM dressings therapy and 761 patients in control group who received other methods therapy. The bias risk of all the 16 included studies was uncertain. Compared with those in control group, patients in experimental group had significantly shorter wound healing time, lower VSS scores (with standardized mean differences of -2.50 and -3.10, 95% confidence intervals of -3.02--1.98 and -4.87--1.34, respectively, P values both <0.05), and lower ratios of scar hyperplasia, complications, skin grafting, and bacteria detection (with relative risks of 0.58, 0.23, 0.32, and 0.27, 95% confidence intervals of 0.43-0.80, 0.14-0.37, 0.15-0.67, and 0.11-0.69, respectively, P<0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that the difference of intervention measures in control group might be the source of heterogeneity in wound healing time. There was no publication bias in ratio of scar hyperplasia (P≥0.05), while there was publication bias in wound healing time, VSS score, and ratio of complications (P<0.05). Conclusions: Xenogeneic ADM dressings can shorten the wound healing time of burn patients, reduce the VSS score and the ratios of scar hyperplasia, complications, skin grafting, and bacteria detection.