A Randomized Control Trial To Assess The Efficacy Of Calcium Alginate Dressing Versus Conventional Gauze Dressing On Bacterial Load In Infected Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Abstract

Background and objectives ABSTRACT Diabetic foot ulcers are common and estimated to affect 15% of all diabetic individual during their lifetime. One of the major causes of non-healing of ulcer in diabetes is infection. The objectives of the present study was to measure the effect of calcium alginate dressing on bacterial load in infected diabetic foot ulcer in comparison to conventional gauze dressing. Methodology The present one year randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Department of Surgery, KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Belgaum on 60 patients with infected diabetic foot ulcer during the period of January 2008 to December 2008. The patients were divided into two different groups by number randomization ( Group 1 Calcium alginate and Group 2 conventional gauze ) . Bacterial load was determined per gram of the tissue before first and after third dressing in both the groups. Results Among 60 cases majority of the patients were males. The duration of DM was 6 to 10 years in majority of the patients. The mean bacterial load ( X 10 CFU/gm tissue ) before the first dressing in calcium alginate group was 513.3±122.4 while in conventional gauze group it was 516.7±117.7 and after the third dressing was 526.7±138.8 and 536.7±121.7 respectively. The mean bacterial load after the third dressing was higher in conventional gauze group as compared to calcium alginate. However this difference was statistically not significant 5 X ( p=0.768) . There was increase in bacterial load after the three dressings over the diabetic foot ulcer in both the groups. However this increase was not statistically significant ( p=0.787 ) . Conclusions The present study has shown that dressing with calcium alginate is ineffective in reducing the bacterial load of the infected diabetic foot ulcers.