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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
Severe Burn Injury in a Swine Model for Clinical Dressing Assessment
Published on: November 6, 2018
Randomized controlled trial of three burns dressings for partial thickness burns in children
E L Gee Kee1, R M Kimble2, L Cuttle3
1Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, University of Queensland, Australia.
Insights
Mepilex Ag™ offers faster healing and less pain for children's burns compared to Acticoat™ dressings. This study found Mepilex Ag™ superior in re-epithelialization time and pain reduction during dressing changes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric wound care
- Dermatology
- Silver-based wound dressings
Background:
- Acute partial thickness burns in children require effective wound management.
- Silver dressings are commonly used for their antimicrobial properties.
- Comparing different silver dressing formulations is crucial for optimizing pediatric burn care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy of three silver dressing combinations in pediatric partial thickness burns.
- To evaluate re-epithelialization time, pain, and distress associated with different dressings.
- To identify the optimal silver dressing for treating children's acute partial thickness burns.
Main Methods:
- A comparative study involving children aged 0-15 years with clean, partial thickness burns (≤ 10% TBSA).
- Three treatment groups: Acticoat™, Acticoat™ with Mepitel™, and Mepilex Ag™.
- Systematic recording of burn re-epithelialization, pain (FLACC, VAS-P), and distress during dressing changes every 3-5 days.
Main Results:
- Mepilex Ag™ demonstrated significantly accelerated re-epithelialization compared to Acticoat™ and Acticoat™ with Mepitel™.
- Children treated with Mepilex Ag™ experienced significantly lower pain scores during dressing changes.
- Acticoat™ alone showed the longest re-epithelialization time and highest pain scores.
Conclusions:
- Mepilex Ag™ is an effective silver dressing for pediatric partial thickness burns.
- It promotes faster wound healing and reduces pain during dressing changes.
- Mepilex Ag™ is recommended over Acticoat™ for similar pediatric burn cases.
Background:
This study compared the effects of three silver dressing combinations on small to medium size acute partial thickness burns in children, focusing on re-epithelialization time, pain and distress during dressing changes.
Method:
Children (0-15 years) with clean, ≤ 10% total body surface area (TBSA) partial thickness burns who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Children received either (1) Acticoat™; (2) Acticoat™ with Mepitel™; or (3) Mepilex Ag™ dressings. Measures of burn re-epithelialization, pain, and distress were recorded at dressing changes every 3-5 days until full re-epithelialization occurred.
Results:
One hundred and three children were recruited with 96 children included for analysis. No infections were detected for the course of the study. When adjusted for burn depth, Acticoat™ significantly increased the expected days to full re-epithelialization by 40% (IRR = 1.40; 95% CI: 1.14-1.73, p < 0.01) and Acticoat™ with Mepitel™ significantly increased the expected days to full re-epithelialization by 33% (IRR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.08-1.63, p ≤ 0.01) when compared to Mepilex Ag™. Expected FLACC scores in the Mepilex Ag™ group were 32% lower at dressing removal (p = 0.01) and 37% lower at new dressing application (p = 0.04); and scores in the Acticoat™ with Mepitel™ group were 23% lower at dressing removal (p = 0.04) and 40% lower at new dressing application (p < 0.01), in comparison to the Acticoat™ group. Expected Visual Analog Scale-Pain (VAS-P) scores were 25% lower in the Mepilex Ag™ group at dressing removal (p = 0.04) and 34% lower in the Acticoat™ with Mepitel™ group (p = 0.02) at new dressing application in comparison to the Acticoat™ group. There was no significant difference between the Mepilex Ag™ and the Acticoat™ with Mepitel™ groups at all timepoints and with any pain measure.
Conclusion:
Mepilex Ag™ is an effective silver dressing, in terms of accelerated wound re-epithelialization time (compared to Acticoat™ and Acticoat™ with Mepitel™) and decreased pain during dressing changes (compared to Acticoat™), for clean, < 10% TBSA partial thickness burns in children.
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