Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers with Microlyte® Matrix
Sarah W. Manning, MD; David A. Humphrey, MD; William R. Shillinglaw, DO; Michael J. Schurr, MD
Mission Hospital, Asheville, NC
Overview
- In a pilot study of Microlyte® Matrix in complex chronic wounds conducted at Mission Hospital (Asheville, NC), six patients with a total of 8 non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) were evaluated.
- Over an average period of 53 weeks, an est. $132,000 was spent to unsuccessfully treat these 8 DFUs.
- In this report, we discuss the clinical and economic advantages of Microlyte® Matrix treatment on 3 representative DFU cases.
Patient Presentation
- Patient 1: 68 y/o previously treated with a cast, Endoform®, Silvadene® Cream, and Silver Foam, non-healing for 48 weeks, costing approx. $13,000
- Patient 2: 47 y/o male previously treated with Antibiotics, Medipore™, non-healing for 41 weeks, costing approx. $11,000
- Patient 3: 56 y/o previously treated with Promogran® Prisma, Iodoflex*, non-healing for 61 weeks, costing approx. $17,000
Procedure & Treatment
Microlyte® Matrix was applied weekly after debridement and followed by standard wound care protocol.
Clinical Outcome
After Microlyte® Matrix treatment for an average of 5 weeks, approximately $12,000 was spent to treat all 8 DFU and resulted in average closure of almost 80%. This reflects a 90% reduction in cost-of-care to accomplish varying, but substantial, degrees of closure in non-healing wounds. Treatment for patients 1, 2 and 3 cost $2,400, $705 and $3,019, respectively. Furthermore, no pain during application or secondary dressing change was reported.
Conclusion
In addition to improving patient outcomes and quality of life, faster healing of DFUs will allow clinics to generate higher revenues through increased patient volume while decreasing the risk for nosocomial infections in the at-risk diabetic patient population. Furthermore, the Matrix is compatible with other adjunctive wound care therapies and traditional wound care regimens, which makes it easily adoptable by wound care clinics, thereby increasing overall treatment success of DFUs.
Figure 1: (A,C,E) before Microlyte® Matrix treatment, (B,D,F) after
Microlyte® Matrix treatment.
Cost of Care
Healing Time
Figure 2: Microlyte® Matrix treatment significantly reduces the cost of care due to faster healing times.
Figure 1: Patient presented with an excised scalp wound that was irradiated and debrided for second intention (A). Microlyte® was applied over the entire surface of wound (B), and then reapplied on the 3rd day (figure not shown). Wound closed 42% over 4 days (C) and demonstrated new granulation tissue and decreased exudate on day 14 (D). At 16 weeks, the wound decreased to 3.5 cm x 4 cm, A 91% reduction from day 1 (E).