OCCLUSIVE DRESSINGS ARE NOT ALL ALIKE

Not all wound dressings create an ideal wound environment for wound he aling. This prospective study compares a new occlusive hydrocolloid dr essing (Visiband; Convatec Squibb) with that of a polyurethane film dr essing for nutritional catheters. Significantly less bacterial coloniz ation occurred under the former dressing at day 3 and day 5 dressing c hanges. In addition, the polyurethane film dressing was associated wit h a significant increase in skin colonization (P = 0.04) and the numbe r of positive gram-stain microbes if left unchanged for 5 days (P = 0. 0018). Staphylococcus aureus catheter-related sepsis occurred in 1 pat ient on day 18 in the polyurethane film dressing group. Candida albica ns colonization was confined to patients with the polyurethane film dr essing. The changing of the Visiband dressing every fifth day makes it a cost-effective occlusive dressing for total parenteral nutrition ca theters.