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Dressing aims to speed healing of chronic wounds

Silica gel wound dressings could help chronic wounds to heal more quickly.

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Silica gel wound dressings could help chronic wounds to heal more quickly.

Bayer Technology Services has developed a special dressing on behalf of Bayer Innovation GmbH that is aimed at accelerating the healing process for chronic wounds. A first clinical study has been initiated at Cologne and Hamburg university hospitals involving patients suffering from chronic venous abscesses of the lower leg. They are being treated with a novel wound closure consisting of silica gel fibers designed to actively support the natural healing process. The study will be expanded in the second half of 2009 to include 15 hospitals in Europe and the United States and is expected to be concluded in 2011.

Should the study prove successful, a considerable unmet treatment need could be satisfied. In Germany alone, an estimated two to four million patients suffer from wounds that do not heal and are often painful – including, for example, people with diabetic foot or certain vascular disorders.