Preliminary Study of Wound Oxygenation Comparing Skin Substitutes and Dressings.

Background:Improving oxygen delivery to challenging wound types has been shown to optimize and accelerate several key contributors to healing. This study aims to compare selective skin substitutes and primary dressings and evaluate their ability to transfer oxygen to the wound. Methods:Visual and quantitative methods were employed to measure gas and fluid movement across several skin substitutes, including a bilayer nylon and silicone dressing coated with porcine gelatin and aloe vera (CNS), a porous bovine collagen-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) matrix dressing coated with silicone (UBC), and a urethane biodegradable temporizing matrix (PFD). Results:Fluids did not move across solid silicone membranes or urethane foam while oxygen movement across solid silicone membranes was inversely proportional to the thickness of the membrane. Oxygen moved across the coated nylon and silicone dressing 5.63 times faster than across the bovine-GAG scaffold and 2.0 times faster than the biodegradable temporizing matrix of polyurethane. Conclusions:The coated nylon and silicone matrix functioned like a membrane oxygenator, potentially augmenting atmospheric oxygen delivery to healing wounds.