A clinical evaluation of Urgotul to treat acute and chronic wounds.

This article describes the first UK clinical open study of Urgotul, a new dressing, in the management of acute and chronic wounds. A single-centre, qualitative, descriptive, non-comparative study was carried out to evaluate the tolerance, acceptability and efficacy of Urgotul in practice. Urgotul comprises a new concept in wound management: lipido-colloid technology. It is a class IIb medical device and takes the form of a non-occlusive, thin-sheet, lipido-colloid dressing. Twenty-two out of 27 hospital inpatients who were selected by the tissue viability nurse and vascular nurse completed the study. Informed written consent was obtained before inclusion and photography of the wounds. Wounds were photographed and traced on entry, at each dressing change and on exit. The clinical report forms were completed weekly until wounds healed, or up to a maximum of 4 weeks. Patient and nurse acceptability was documented weekly and on exit from the study. The results were very positive regarding ease of application, conformability and non-adherence, absence of trauma, pain and bleeding on removal, with minimal maceration of the surrounding skin and odour. The study involved a limited sample of patients but demonstrated good efficacy, tolerance and acceptability of the dressing in a wide range of acute and chronic wounds.