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Lab Research
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Odour absorbing hydrocolloid dressings* that are not inactivated by serum proteins First Author: van Bavel Davy Authors: Davy Van Bavel, Ph.D, Roger Lipman, Ph.D, Debashish Chakravarthy, Ph.D Introduction: Wound odor is a problem that negatively affects quality of healthcare (1, 2) Charcoal dressings claim to reduce odor (3,4) but are not usually adhesive and absorb poorly. A new dressing to address this problem is described. A survey of healthcare professionals in evaluating odor reduction is reported. Experimental work: Data is presented on a new hydrocolloid dressing* that uses the host-guest chemistry of cyclodextrins (5). Techniques to measure odor reduction are described, using odoriferous chemicals as markers. Absorption compared to other hydrocolloid dressings is measured. A survey of 97 healthcare professionals is performed to evaluate odor reduction capacity of the new dressing in contrast to charcoal products, when both are exposed to odoriferous chemicals. Results: Serum exposed charcoal dressings lost their odor absorbing capacity, while the new hydrocolloid with cyclodextrin removed odor efficiently. The absorption of the new dressings was comparable or better to other commercial hydrocolloids, the charcoal dressings were inferior. Survey analysis showed a strong, statistically significant preference for the new hydrocolloid dressing compared to charcoal dressings. Conclusion: A new hydrocolloid that possesses both significant odor removal properties and good absorption is described. The performance of charcoal dressings and other conventional hydrocolloids is thus improved upon in the novel hydrocolloid composition. * Exuderm ยจ OdorShield, Medline Industries. Product developed by Avery Dennison Medical, Turnhout, Belgium |
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