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A Clinical Study Comparing Helicoll with Scarlet Red and OpSite in the Treatment of Split Thickness Skin Graft Donor Sites—A Randomized Controlled Trial

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Abstract

Split thickness skin graft (STSG) is a key method in the reconstructive ladder for covering skin defects used widely by surgeons from all specialties. The donor site is often a source of delayed healing, associated with considerable pain and discomfort even more than the recipient wound. The aim of this prospective randomized controlled study was to compare Helicoll® (EnColl Corp., Fremont, CA, USA), a type I pure collagen dressing, to OpSite® (Smith & Nephew, USA) dressing and to Scarlet Red® (Kendall HealthCare, USA) dressing in the treatment of standardized STSG donor sites. Thirty patients, over a 3-month period, underwent various reconstructive procedures, necessitating the use of STSGs. Following a simple randomized clinical protocol, the analysis of data included donor site pain, healing time of the donor site, initial absorption of the applied dressing and rate of infection with the three different dressings to form the basis of this paper. Patients in the Helicoll group reported significantly less pain, less infection rate and required no dressing change when compared with the OpSite (Johnson & Johnson, Langhorne, PA, USA) or the Scarlet Red groups. Healing time of the donor site in the Helicoll group was shorter than that in the Scarlet Red group; however, it was comparable to the OpSite group. This study indicates that Helicoll, as a donor site dressing, is successful in providing pain-free mobility with a measurable healing rate.

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Acknowledgements

This study has been conducted solely for research purposes and this study was not sponsored by any product distributor or manufacturer. Accordingly, there have been no conflicts of interest in this research study.

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  1. Prema Dhanraj

    Present address: , 58/1 Banashankari Extn, 13th main, J.P. Nagar, 1st phase, Bangalore, KA, 560078, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch/Shriners, Galveston, TX, 77550, USA

    Prema Dhanraj

  2. Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Christian Medical College (CMC) Hospital, Vellore, 632 004, Tamil Nadu, India

    Prema Dhanraj

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  1. Prema Dhanraj
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Correspondence to Prema Dhanraj.

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Dhanraj, P. A Clinical Study Comparing Helicoll with Scarlet Red and OpSite in the Treatment of Split Thickness Skin Graft Donor Sites—A Randomized Controlled Trial. Indian J Surg 77 (Suppl 2), 385–392 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-013-0850-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-013-0850-3

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