A novel
ointment base suitable for the treatment of
bedsore at the recovery stage was developed by the use of
hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HM-HPMC) modified on the basis of the hydrophobicity. A considerable sustained release of
drug (
minocycline hydrochloride) formulated to the
ointment (T50 of 170 min) was attained with a
macrogol ointment (MO) mixed with the HM-HPMC and
Carbopol (CP) of the formulating ratio of 3:7. It was also found that a change in the formulating ratio of HM-HPMC and CP lead to a change in the drug release rate. The water absorption property of the
ointment base, required to absorb on exudative
solution in applying to the
bedsore treatment, was as high as that of an
ointment base containing
hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) and CP reported in our previous paper. We clinically evaluated the effectiveness of the
bedsore treatment, in which different
ointment bases were applied to patients at different stages of the
bedsore. A total of 22 cases were divided into two categories for applying to the different treatments. One category comprised of 11 subjects was treated with a
povidone-iodine sugargel, which was the conventional method in our hospital, while the other 11 subjects were treated by the use of the newly developed
ointment bases in consideration for the different stages of the
bedsore. In comparison of the clinical results with the healing index, we ascertained that the latter method was significantly more efficacious (p < 0.01-0.05) than the conventional one. The effectiveness was emphasized in treating the intractable
bedsore classified into the grades IV and V. Therefore, we confirmed that the newly developed
ointment base formulation is useful in treating
bedsore at each stage.