ANALYSIS OF EFFICACY OF COLLAGEN DRESSING VERSUS CONVENTIONAL DRESSING IN CHRONIC WOUND

A breach in continuity of the covering epithelium either of skin or of mucus membrane is defined as ulcer. Chronic or non-healing ulcers are defined as ulcers that are unresponsive to initial treatment or that persist for more than 3 weeks after appropriate care and management. Chronic nonhealing ulcers not only have a medical challenge but have social, economical and occupational effects on the patient. Ulcers have been treated conventionally by cleansing, debridement and removal of necrotic and infected tissue which was followed by dressing with topical antiseptic like Povidone iodine, antibiotic ointment, silver ointment, etc. Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins found in all phases of wound healing. Collagen is a key component of extracellular matrix which plays critical roles in the regulation of the phases of wound healing in its native fibrillar conformation or as a soluble component.Collagen helps wound healing through deposition and organisation of freshly formed fibres and granulation tissue in the wound bed which creates a good environment for wound healing.Collagen sheets when applied to a wound promote angiogenesis and also enhance bodyÂ's repair mechanisms Our Aim is To compare the efficacy of the conventional dressing and collagen dressing in chronic wound in terms of Average time required for appearance of Granulation tissue, Requirement of Skin Grafting and mean Hospital Stay. Based on the type of dressing used, patients were divided into 2 groups, Group A(49) patients were dressed with conventional dressing, Group B patients (51) were dressed with collagen making a total of 100 patients. Appearance of healthy granulation tissue was observed to be significantly earlier among patients of collagen dressing group as compared to other group .The observed difference between number of days of hospital stay of patients with collagen dressing was statistically significant as compared to other group Thus Collagen based dressing were observed to be superior from conventional dressings in terms of aspects of healing viz. appearance of healthy granulation tissue.