would you like treat your wound by surgical procedureor by maggots

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by arauca, Dec 22, 2011.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. arauca Banned Banned

    Messages:
    4,564
    Maggot Therapy for Wound Debridement



    Arch Dermatol. Published online December 19, 2011. doi:10.1001/archdermatol.2011.1895

    Objective To study the efficacy of bagged larvae on wound debridement compared with conventional treatment.

    Design Randomized, multicenter, controlled, prospective phase 3 trial with blinded assessment of outcome measures by a single observer.

    Setting Two hospital referral centers in Caen and Lyon, France.

    Patients Random sampling of 119 patients with a nonhealing, sloughy wound 40 cm2 or smaller, less than 2 cm deep, and an ankle brachial index of 0.8 or higher.

    Intervention During a 2-week hospital stay, patients received either maggot debridement therapy (MDT) or conventional treatment. At discharge, conventional dressings were applied and a follow-up visit occurred at day 30.

    Main Outcome Measure Percentage of slough in wounds at day 15.

    Results There was a significant difference between groups at day 8 (54.5% in the MDT group and 66.5% in the control group) (P = .04). The mean percentage of slough at day 15 was 55.4% in the MDT group and 53.8% in the control group (P = .78).

    Conclusions Although MDT shows no significant benefit at day 15 compared with conventional treatment, debridement by MDT is significantly faster and occurs during the first week of treatment. Because there is no benefit in continuing the treatment after 1 week, another type of dressing should be used after 2 or 3 applications of MDT.
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

    Messages:
    4,199
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. wlminex Banned Banned

    Messages:
    1,587
    . . .YES, I would! . . . the procedure is STILL used for appropriate situations.
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. kwhilborn Banned Banned

    Messages:
    2,088
    Should have attached a poll. I'd be a yes. Leech me.



    Note: " Leech me" is a joke
     
  8. chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,416
    It's a perfectly valid, old-school way of keeping wounds clean:

    http://www.livescience.com/3094-maggot-therapy-gains-popularity.html
    Having smelled the regular smell of a decubitus ulcer from when I worked in a bad nursing home...boy, I bet a nonhealing wound undergoing maggot debridement just smells marvelous

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    uke:

    Look, nonhealing wounds are nasty and kill or cause amputations. So if maggots can cause those to close where more modern techniques fail-then use them
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2011
  9. RichW9090 Evolutionist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    151
    No, not for me, thanks. I spent too much time in the tropics as a young scientist to ever be comfortable with leeches. Just a personal thing.
     
  10. chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,416
    They have been used to help reattached fingers "take", by keeping a constant flow-through of blood.
    It sounds really gross, but if it works...:shrug:
     
  11. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,620
    Since aracua's original question seems to imply the negative [as his opinion], I would ask why not?
    These aren't maggots you pick up for a pile of dung where flies laid their eggs. These are carefully breed and maintained for this purpose. If the surgery requires it or the doctor insists on it, I am fine with them.
     
  12. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    Leech therapy has been around for hundreds of years and has been perfected to helping with certain kinds of wound therapy. Knowing that I'd use leech therapy to help myself if I were told that I needed it by professionals.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2011
  13. gmilam Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,522
    Is it covered by my insurance plan?
     
  14. ricardonest Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    95
    Pretty gross, but if it had to be done, then bring it.
     
  15. Daedelus Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    55
    Somehow leeches got into a discussion of maggot therapy. Not the same thing.

    During the American Civil War, it was noticed that wounded Confederate POWs whose injuries were left open to the air and thus flies, did better than the Union wounded who got the scarce bandages which kept the flies off. The maggots cleaned out the dead tissue and they avoided much of the gangrene that killed the Union troops.
     
  16. kwhilborn Banned Banned

    Messages:
    2,088
    Sorry I brought maggots in in post 4 as a comparison/joke.

    Anybody who is "grossed out" by procedures like this obviously has no idea what kind of lifeforms already reside in and around their body.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page