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Updated: Mar 18, 2026
Application of Lucilia sericata Larvae in Debridement of Pressure Wounds in Outpatient Settings
Published on: December 4, 2021
Safety, effectiveness and economic aspects of maggot debridement therapy for wound healing
Jalal Arabloo1, Serajaddin Grey2, Mohammadreza Mobinizadeh3
1PhD Student, Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences & Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. arabloo_j64@yahoo.com.
Background:
Maggot therapy has recently attracted considerable attention as an emerging debridement technique for wound healing. This study aimed to review the safety, effectiveness and economic evaluations of Maggot Debridement Therapy for wound healing.
Methods:
To retrieve the relevant evidences, the Cochrane Library (until September 2014) was searched by appropriate keywords, using free text and Mesh. Systematic reviews, HTA reports and economic evaluation studies that compared larval therapy with other debridement therapies, such as hydrogel in patients with various kinds of ulcers in terms of side effects, the wound healing rate, the healing time, and cost per QALY, were included.
Results:
Five studies met the inclusion criteria which showed that healing with larval therapy happened a little earlier than the usual methods and that pain perception in larval therapy was a little more than usual methods (as by anesthetic conventional methods). However, the quality of life of those patients who received larval therapy was better and they showed a greater tendency to larval therapy as it was relatively safe and had a low rate of side effects.
Conclusion:
It seems that larval therapy has several advantages such as rapid wound debridement, infection elimination, pain control and ulcer healing. The use of larval therapy has the potential to reduce side effects and decrease the need for amputation.
