Chronic pressure ulcer wounds are among the most challenging that we treat. Always, we’re looking for better, more effective ways to provide care. Placental-based allografts show real promise for treating chronic pressure ulcer wounds. We wanted to evaluate the efficacy of those allografts when compared against the standard of care for our mobile wound care patients.
Recently, our CEO, Dr. David Kay, as well as researcher Harry Matundan and our EVP of Strategy and Clinical Affairs Marta Corwin, published an article about their findings entitled: “A retrospective real-world analysis of placental-based allografts on pressure ulcers.”
How Our Team Approached Treatment
From July of 2022 to June of 2023, our team gathered real-world evidence from treating patients with pressure ulcer wounds. A majority of these patients had multiple comorbidities that, unfortunately, had made their chronic wounds worse. As our wound care treatment model can meet the patient where they are, most of these patients received their wound care in their homes.
We put the patients into two groups. One group would receive the standard of care with debridement, while the other would receive the standard of care with debridement and the placental-based allograft intervention.
Then, after every single session, our techs would measure the wound area and depth. Each wound was scored for slough, eschar, epithelialization, and granulation. Additionally, patients in the group that received the standard of care with debridement and grafting cohort were monitored for graft duration. Our team was careful to record the number of graft applications per wound. Then, for multiple comparisons, our statistical analysis used a paired t-test and ANOVA.
The results were striking.
What We Found
The group that received standard of care with debridement saw an average percent change in wound care of 42% reduction. That’s a great number. However, the group that received standard of care with debridement and grafting cohort demonstrated an average percent change in wound area of 46%. That’s quite a difference.
These improvements appeared in other forms of measurement, too. For example, those receiving the graft improved their positive wound score by 8% and decreased their negative wound score by 55% when compared with patients in the other group.
Additionally, the mean percent change in wound depth was a 36% reduction for those with the graft, while those in the other group experienced a 37% increase.
What This Means for Mobile Wound Care Going Forward
This real-world evidence shows that placental-based grafts really can reduce wound size in patients struggling with chronic pressure ulcers and multiple comorbidities.
Beyond simply demonstrating the effectiveness of the treatment, this evidence demonstrates the importance of reviewing current local coverage determination.
These treatments work. Whether a patient can receive this treatment should only depend on the patient’s wound-care responses. That way, patients can receive care that really does help them improve not just their wounds but their quality of life. We’re pleased with the results and always looking for better, more cutting-edge ways to treat our patients.