EARLY BURN WOUND MANAGEMENT; WOUND MEMBRANES (ACTICOATTM) VERSUS STANDARD SILVER SULFADIAZINE (DERMAZINETM)

Background: Burn wound infection is one of the most frequent and major complications in patients with burn injuries and is the main cause for prolonged in-hospital stay and death in cases of wide-spread infection. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of semipermeable membranes( ActicoatTM) in deep partial thickness burns in comparison to standard care silver sulfadiazine DermazineTM . Patients and methods: In a prospective study design included n=30 severely injured patients with superficial to deep partial thickness burns they were randomized into two groups, group A (ActicoatTM) (n=15) and group B receiving treatment with standard silver sulfadiazine (DermazineTM) (n = 15) .The outcome measures were pain ,temperature , time of wound healing, and Scar quality. Results: There were significant differences between the two groups. Regard to, time to re-epithelialization and Scar quality in favor of (ActicoatTM) treatment group versus (DermazineTM) group (p < 0.005) Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrated that the choice of medication or membrane for a burn wound is a never-ending source of discussion and fortunately, most medications (DermazineTM) and membranes (ActicoatTM) perform well if physicians carefully monitor wounds, keep them clean, prevent desiccation, and properly manage secondary infection.