Silver sulfadiazine has been used as a topical
burn wound treatment for many years.
Pain associated with dressing changes is a common problem in
burn wounds.
Aquacel Ag, a hydrofiber dressing coated with ionic
silver has been reported to reduce
burn wound infection and promote antimicrobial activity. The purpose of this study was to show the benefits of
Aquacel Ag for the treatment of partial thickness
burns. This prospective randomized study was conducted in 70 patients who had partial thickness
burns less than 15% of total body surface area and were treated at Siriraj outpatient
burn clinic during December 2006-February 2008. Patients were divided into two groups:
Aquacel Ag-treated group with dressing changes every 3 days (35 patients) and 1%
silver sulfadiazine-treated group, with daily dressing changes (35 patients). There was no difference in demographic data including age, gender,
burn percentage between groups. Time-to-wound healing
pain score during dressing change and cost of treatment were compared between both groups. Time-to-
wound closure was significantly shorter in the
Aquacel Ag-treated group (10 +/- 3 versus 13.7 +/- 4 days, P < 0.02) as well as
pain scores at days 1, 3 and 7 (4.1 +/- 2.1, 2.1 +/- 1.8, 0.9 +/- 1.4 versus 6.1 +/- 2.3, 5.2 +/- 2.1, 3.3 +/- 1.9, respectively, P < 0.02). Total cost of treatment was 52 +/- 29 US dollars for the
Aquacel Ag-treated group versus 93 +/- 36 US dollars for the
silver sulfadiazine-treated group. This study showed that
Aquacel Ag increased time to healing, decreased
pain symptoms and increased patient convenience because of limiting the frequency of replacement of the dressing at lower total cost. This study confirms the efficacy of
Aquacel Ag for the treatment of partial thickness
burns at an outpatient clinic.