Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2026
Application of Lucilia sericata Larvae in Debridement of Pressure Wounds in Outpatient Settings
Published on: December 4, 2021
A novel rapid and selective enzymatic debridement agent for burn wound management: a multi-center RCT
Lior Rosenberg1, Yuval Krieger1, Alex Bogdanov-Berezovski1
1Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Ben Gurion University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheba, Israel.
Objectives:
Excisional debridement followed by autografting is the standard of care (SOC) for deep burns, but is associated with serious potential complications. Conservative, non-surgical and current enzymatic debridement methods are inefficiently slow. We determined whether a non-surgical option of rapid enzymatic debridement with the debriding enzyme NexoBrid™ (NXB) would reduce need for surgery while achieving similar esthetic and functional outcomes as SOC.
Methods:
We conducted a multi-center, open-label, randomized, controlled clinical trial including patients aged 4-55 years with deep partial and full thickness burns covering 5-30% of their total body surface area (TBSA). Patients were randomly assigned to burn debridement with NXB (applied for 4h) or SOC, which included surgical excisional or non-surgical debridement.
Results:
NXB significantly reduced the time from injury to complete débridement (2.2 vs. 8.7 days, P<0.0001), need for surgery (24.5% vs. 70.0%, P<0.0001), the area of burns excised (13.1% vs. 56.7%, P<0.0001) and the need for autografting (17.9% vs. 34.1%, P=0.01). Scar quality and quality of life scores were similar in both study groups as were the rates of adverse events.
Conclusions:
Enzymatic débridement with NXB resulted in reduced need for and extent of surgery compared with SOC while achieving comparable long-term results in patients with deep burns.
Trial Registration:
Clinical Trials.gov NCT00324311.
