The Clinicians Speak, page-844

More reports from the UK on the use of BTM in non-burn wound reconstruction.

Two abstracts from the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire have been published in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, March 2024.

Both abstracts report on a retrospective observational study of 37 patients who underwent non-burn wound reconstruction using Novosorb BTM between January 2020 and September 2022.

• Wound aetiologies included: acute trauma (51.4%), chronic wounds (24.3%), infections with tissue loss (16.2%), and soft tissue or skin cancer (8.1%).TBSA was 1%, most frequent wound site was lower limb (56.8%), whereas wound bed was muscle/fascia (48.6%).
• There was a 74.3% success rate in achieving Novosorb integration.
• Notably, all patients achieved complete wound healing. Median time to complete wound healing was 101 days.
• Patients aged 65 and above experienced higher complication rates (72.7%), while younger patients exhibited significantly lower complication rates (34.6%).
• Complications occurred in 45.9% of patients: highest rates seen in cases involving malignancy (66.7%) and chronic wounds (55.6%).
• Factors such as wound bed characteristics, and diabetic status showed no substantial influence on either integration or complication rates.
• Age, gender and smoking history were not significantly associated with BTM loss.

Conclusions   This study underscores Novosorb as a valuable addition to non-burn wound management, even in challenging clinical scenarios. Vigilant clinical monitoring and meticulous wound bed optimisation are essential, especially for elderly, diabetic, or co-morbid patients with chronic or malignant wounds. Despite potential complications, Novosorb consistently proves to be a robust and reliable choice for enhancing patient outcomes in non-burn wound reconstruction.