Research reported in March (I know, I'm behind the times) suggests that using maggots to clean wounds may not provide any benefits over the use of hydrogel, a standard wound cleaning product. While maggots were found to clean wounds more quickly, this did not lead to faster healing. How do they know? They were able to test it based on the generosity of 267 patients with venous leg ulcers - who received either the maggot or hydrogel treatment. The report I read didn't say whether each of the patients got to choose which they had - but it did say that some found the maggot treatment aka larval treatment more painful. More research is needed to see whether maggots do have a place in modern medicine eg for cleaning wounds prior to skin grafts so patients can have surgery more quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment