Case Study
A 67- years- old lady was referred to the wound clinic with a chronic wound. She had a wound on her right leg for 15 years and had a history multiple wound infection, she was trialled on so many dressings with no success. She had a medical history of congestive cardiac failure, MRSA and Pseudomonas infection on the wounds, venous insufficiency and obesity.
V.A.C. VERAFLOTM Therapy with cleanse choice dressing was initiated on the wound. The dressing was deemed suitable because the wound had slough and the main goal was to debride the wound of non -viable tissue, secondly, the patient was unable to be taken to theatre because there were no beds available in the wards. A Cavilon barrier wipe was applied on the peri-wound area followed by a film dressing to protect the peri-wound skin. Normal Saline solution was instilled into the wound with a 3 minutes dwell time, followed by a 3.5hours continuous negative pressure at -125mmHg. Dressings were changed three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, the dressing Regime was continued for 2 weeks.
When the VeraFloTM dressing was ceased the wounds were dressed with a Zoflerx® dressing and a two layer cohesive compression bandage. The Zoflex® dressing was initially changed 3 days after initiating the dressing, this was because it was important to examine the wound and see how the wound was reacting to the new dressing. The dressing was then subsequently changed weekly.
When the patient presented to the wound clinic one week after the wound was dressed with Zorflex® there were areas of healthy epithelial tissue and there was a significant reduction in the wound size. The peri-wound skin had a white discolouration, the skin was not macerated. The white discolouration was easily removed when the wound was cleaned.
The wound had areas where there was epithelialization, white discoloration was still present in some areas but again this was removed easily during wound cleaning. The pain had significantly decreased. Pain assessment was done using a numerical pain scale and the pain ranged between 1 to 3 out of 10. When the patient came to the wound clinic for a wound review she was very happy with how the wound was progressing, she had started going out with her husband.
The patient continues to come to the clinic for a wound review every 2 to 3 weeks. The dressing is done by the community nurses and the dressing are changed weekly.
Conclusion: The V.A.C VERAFLO Therapy with cleanse choice dressing had a significant role in debriding the wound of non-viable tissue.
Wound when patient first presented to the Wound Clinic
