A novel French research reveals that maggots may trump scalpels when it comes to clean big wounds that would not heal easily, like of those seen in diabetic patients. For allowing such wounds to cure, often doctors remove contaminated or dead tissue using scalpels or enzymes, the process is known as debridement.
However, this procedure does not always work and is time consuming. Several studies have recommended that maggots might potentially offering antibacterial and curing benefits besides keeping the wound clean. A team led by Dr Anne Dompmartin of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Caen carried out a study, involving patients suffering venous ulcer on their legs.
During their hospital stay, all the patients were arbitrarily allocated maggot therapy or conventional wound cleaning using a scalpel, with just fifty patients in each cluster. All the patients in both clusters were blindfolded, so they would not be acquainted with which treatment they received.
During two week treatment, the sterile creepy-crawlies, of the species Lucilia sericata, which came in little bags, were placed over the wounds two times a week. Maggots emit essences into the wounds that dissolve dead tissue and then they swallow the material to further mortify it in their guts. The study published in the Archives of Dermatology.
After one week, two-third area of the wound in patients received surgical cleaning was covered with dead tissue called as slough that interferes with healing. While, in patients treated with maggots, only fifty-five percent of the wound area was covered with slough. However, there was no difference in pain sensation between the two groups.
Maggots have been approved for medical use since 2004, but their availability fluctuates. There was a gross factor to the treatment, stated Dr Robert Kirsner from the University Of Miami School Of Medicine. Patients have to be very strong psychologically. In addition to that study found the benefits of using maggots vanished after two weeks, and there was no difference in wound closure.