A Comparative Study between Silver Based Dressing and Vacuum Dressing in Management of Diabetic Foot Infection

For centuries silver was presented to the population as an active ingredient for sanitation and food protection against bacteria but in these recent years it has been introduced for wound care management as antibacterial agent. Vacuum dressing is a new technique of dressing Also called Negative-pressure wound therapy [NPWT] using a device to make continuous suction over an open wound decreasing edema and secretions, promotes healing and granulation tissue fast growing. We aimed to compare between silver based dressing and vacuum dressing in management of diabetic foot infection 50 Patients ages from 50-65 years old having diabetic foot Infection, on insulin injections and undergoing treatment. All patients had prober surgical debridement and wound irrigation using normal saline 0.9% and povidone iodine, then they will be subdivided into 2 groups those in the first group will have silver containing ointment afterward. The second group will have silver based dressing using vacuum dressing. There were no difference between the two groups in healing percentage [84%] in the two groups and number of patients needed higher amputation were equal in both groups 3 cases in each group [16%], although there was significance difference in wound size at the end of the study between silver group and vacuum group and rate of healing which was more rapid in the vacuum group. we conclude that vacuum dressing has good healing power and more effective than silver dressing in management of diabetic foot infection. It decreases time needed for wound healing and hospital stay better than silver dressing.