Epidermal growth factor vs platelet-rich plasma: Activity against chronic wound microbiota

The objective was to evaluate Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonisation of wounds treated with recombinant epidermal growth factor (EGF) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP); to analyse the susceptibility profiles of S. aureus and P. aeruginosa isolates from wounds treated with EGF and PRP; and to describe the presence of infection in EGF-treated and PRP-treated wounds. Experimental study was performed using clinical specimens collected with swabs. Patients were treated with PRP and EGF in the outpatient clinic of a university hospital. Forty-three isolates were obtained from 31 patients, 41.9% (13/31) of whom had been treated with EGF and 58.0% (18/31) with PRP. Ten of the 43 isolates were identified as S. aureus, 60.0% (6/10) of which were isolated from PRP-treated wounds. Among the 33 P. aeruginosa isolates, 66.6% (22/33) were isolated from PRP-treated wounds. Regarding antimicrobial susceptibility, only one strain isolated from an EGF-treated wound was identified as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Among the P. aeruginosa isolates, one obtained from a patient treated with EGF was multidrug-resistant. Patients treated with EGF had no infections during the follow-up period, and there was a significant difference between the 1st and 12th week in wound infection improvement in patients treated with PRP (P = .0078).