Pilot study of a unique film dressing for the treatment of donor site wounds

The clinical benefits of using the VENTEX Wound Dressing System (VWDS) (The Kendall Co.) in the management of donor site wounds were evaluated in this pilot study involving 10 informed and consenting patients. The study was a prospective, randomized, controlled study in which one donor site wound was managed with VWDS, and the other donor site wound on the same patient was managed by our standard of care, which involved the use of Xeroform gauze (The Kendall Co.). Each donor site wound was independently assessed daily for pain, rate of reepithelialization, adverse reactions, and ease of dressing use while patients were hospitalized. Quality of scar was assessed during regularly scheduled follow-up visits. The use of VWDS eliminated donor site pain and accelerated reepithelialization compared with Xeroform gauze. There were no adverse reactions associated with the use of VWDS. In contrast, there were two cases of suspected infection at the donor sites treated with Xeroform gauze. The VWDS was more complicated to apply and use compared with Xeroform gauze. There were no differences observed in scar quality of donor sites treated with these dressings.