Hydrogel-based dressing for wound healing: A systematic review of clinical trials

Chronic wounds pose significant healthcare challenges. Hydrogel-based wound dressings have garnered significant attention in the field of wound care. Furthermore, no severe adverse effect was reported for treatment with hydrogel in wound healing. However, a comprehensive review of their clinical application for enhancing chronic wound healing is lacking.

This systematic review evaluates their clinical effectiveness of hydrogel-based dressing in managing chronic wounds and assesses the evidence supporting their use.

We searched the following databases PubMed, the Cochrane Library; Web of Science; and ClinicalTrials.gov. from January 2010 to January 2023.

Published clinical trial studies that evaluate the effect of hydrogel-based dressing on chronic wounds.

We included 39 studies with 1786 participants (1818 wounds), 1024 of whom (1100 wounds) received hydrogel dressings while 679 patients (725 wounds) used non-hydrogel dressings. This systematic review of clinical research indicates that utilizing hydrogel dressings could potentially reduce the required time (31.17 ± 21.74 days) for wound healing and enhance the percentage of wound closure (63.76 ± 28.97 %).

This systematic review revealed that hydrogel dressings are effective in treatment of chronic wounds. Nonetheless, there is a necessity for additional long-term trials tailored to specific wound types and patient characteristics.