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Debridement is the medical removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue. [2] [3] Removal may be surgical, mechanical, chemical, autolytic (self-digestion), or by maggot therapy.
Debridement is defined as removal of devitalized or dead tissue, particularly necrotic tissue, eschar, or slough. Debridement is a critical aspect of wound care because devitalized tissue, particularly necrotic tissue, serves as nutrients for bacteria thereby promoting infection.
Wound bed preparation (WBP) is a systematic approach to wound management by identifying and removing barriers to healing. The concept was originally developed in plastic surgery. [1] [2] It includes wound assessment, debridement, moisture balance, bacterial balance, and wound cleaning.
Timing is important to wound healing. Critically, the timing of wound re-epithelialization can decide the outcome of the healing. [11] If the epithelization of tissue over a denuded area is slow, a scar will form over many weeks, or months; [12] [13] If the epithelization of a wounded area is fast, the healing will result in regeneration.
Maggot therapy (also known as larval therapy) is a type of biotherapy involving the introduction of live, disinfected maggots (fly larvae) into non-healing skin and soft-tissue wounds of a human or other animal for the purpose of cleaning out the necrotic (dead) tissue within a wound (debridement), and disinfection.
Maggot therapy has been shown to accelerate debridement of necrotic wounds and reduce the bacterial load of the wound, leading to earlier healing, reduced wound odor and less pain. The combination and interactions of these actions make maggots an extremely potent tool in chronic wound care.
Biological debridement, or maggot debridement therapy, is the use of medical maggots to feed on necrotic tissue and therefore clean the wound of excess bacteria. Although this fell out of favor for many years, in January 2004, the FDA approved maggots as a live medical device.
The optimal timing of performing wound debridement and closure is debated and dependent on the severity of the injury, resources and antibiotics available, and individual needs. [20] [1] Debridement time can vary from 6 to 72 hours, and closure time can be immediate (less than 72 hours) or delayed (72 hours to up to 3 months). [20]