Preparing the wound for healing: the effect of activated polyacrylate dressing on debridement

Activated polyacrylate dressings facilitate wound debridement by retaining moisture while attracting and retaining proteins and bacteria. A 55-patient retrospective study was conducted to quantify the effect of this dressing on debridement of chronic wounds in clinical practice. All patients attended one of four outpatient wound clinics between June 1, 2001 and February 10, 2002 and received treatment with the polyacrylate dressing for an average of 3.9 weeks (SD 4.1). During that time, the rate of wound necrotic tissue debridement was 37.7% per week. Older patients (>80 years of age) had significantly lower rates of wound debridement (mean 18.1% per week) than those <51 years of age (mean 36% per week, P = 0.009). Other variables (age, wound type, wound duration and diagnosis of diabetes) were not found to significantly affect the rate of wound debridement. Wound debridement rates of commonly available modalities are largely unknown. However, these results suggest that activated polyacrylate dressings are an effective, atraumatic, and easy-to-use method of debriding chronic wounds.