QUANTITATIVE AND OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF WOUND DEBRIDING PROPERTIES OF COLLAGENASE AND FIBRINOLYSIN DESOXYRIBONUCLEASE IN A NECROTIC ULCER ANIMAL-MODEL/

Proteolytic enzymes have been used for wound debridement for many year s, The two enzymes most widely used in Europe are fibrinolysin/desoxyr ibonuclease and collagenase, Despite their frequent use, very few plac ebo-controlled studies comparing the enzymes with vehiculum only, or w ith each other, are available, In a specially developed necrotic ulcer animal model, combined with a computer image analysis technique to me asure necrotic and total wound surface areas quantitatively, we assess ed the wound-cleansing properties of fibrinolysin/DNase oleogel, colla genase ointment, saline-soaked gauze control treatment, and new galeni c formulations of collagenase, including placebos, The average relativ e area of necrotic tissue present in the wound after 1 week was 31% fo r collagenase ointment and 56% for fibrinolysin/DNAse oleogel (P = 0.0 037), Collagenase gel was significantly (P = 0.0007) better in removin g necrosis than placebo (gel only), Fibrinolysin/DNAse was not signifi cantly more effective than the three placebo or control treatments (pl acebo film, placebo gel, saline-soaked gauzes), We conclude that colla genase is a suitable enzyme for wound debridement, but we were not abl e to detect clinical efficacy of fibrinolysin/DNAse in this model.