MANAGEMENT OF SKIN TEARS AND STAGE-II SKIN ULCERS WITH 2 TOPICAL REGIMENS - A STUDY OF COST MINIMIZATION

A health-economic study of newly formed skin tears and stage II ulcers used an unblinded, comparative, parallel-group design to evaluate two topical regimens as to time required for complete healing and assessm ent of cost minimization. Thirty-six elderly patients, at risk for dev eloping indolent wounds of the skin and underlying tissues, were assig ned to receive either a saline spray and a topical antibiotic ointment (TAM, n = 14) or Dermagran(R) Spray and Dermagran(R) Ointment (DSO, n = 22). The 76 wounds that appeared in these patients had comparable p retreatment surface areas of 3.73 +/- 0.96 cm(2) in the DSO group vers us 5.57 +/- 1.13 cm(2) in the TAM group (P = NS). All wounds were trea ted twice daily, starting within 24 hours of their appearance, until c omplete healing. The 19 wounds in the TAM group healed within 48.0 +/- 25.3 days versus 15.4 +/- 1.9 days for the 57 wounds in the DSO group (P<.05). The cost of wound management for a given patient was calcula ted by adding the costs of nursing labor and the amount of product con sumed to effect complete healing. To this end, the cost of the TAM reg imen was $323.23 +/- 171.70 versus $104.75 +/- 12.92 for the DSO regim en (P<.05). Results are presented in light of the increasing pressure on long-term care facilities to provide effective and affordable treat ment.