Maggot Therapy heal wounds Because diabetes

Hawaii, hearing or seeing an animal called maggots sometimes people outraged. But who would have thought that disgusting animal that can actually be used as a therapy for wound healing in diabetics.

Patients with diabetes generally suffer injuries on the hands or feet in the form of bumps that are difficult to heal. Some patients even had to endure these conditions for years. If left unchecked, would develop into gangrenous wounds and sometimes have an amputation.

Researchers from Hawaii has a fast and effective way to heal the wounds caused by diabetes, with maggots. To heal these wounds, the doctor removes the infected or dead tissue with a scalpel or enzymes. This process is called debridement.

"Patients with diabetes are really need better treatment options, to save their limbs. Treatment of debridement with maggots are very effective. Began with only a single treatment to improve the scars," said Dr. Lawrence Eron of Kaiser Hospital and the University of Hawaii at Honolulu, told the Reuters news agency on Monday (9/26/2011).

To be treated in this study, Eron and his team of 37 diabetics with maggots. All heart disease that causes the blood flow that is not the hands or feet is good. They also have a wound that has not healed, even up to five years.

"Many patients who are a bit wary of insects that live there that could be placed in his wounds. We explain how it works and what problems can occur," said Eron.

The doctors put 50 to 100 species of Lucilia sericata maggots on the wound and leave it for two days at first. This process is repeated until an average of five times.

"We close the maggots in materials such as nets, nylon stockings can also be used. Then we have closed the cage so that they are not," said Eron.

Twenty-one patients were successfully cured. Healing with recovery of the infection is detected, completely removed the dead tissue, the formation of a powerful new network into the wound and more than three-quarters of the wound has closed.

Five wound infections that previously could not be cured with antibiotics successfully treated with maggots. Nine bacterial wound infections, six of them succeeded with maggot therapy to recover. Ten cases of infections caused by streptococci also successfully treated all of them.

However, not all patients are successful with this therapy. Patients who experience excessive inflammation in the wound, removing too much blood and failure have problems with the infected bone.

Maggots release a substance into the wound, which liquefy dead tissue and then swallow. The wounds cleaned and other substances contained in the liquid allows the formation of granulation tissue, maggots, a kind of connective tissue formed during wound healing.

"For this technique to work, wound really need to cleanse, remove dead tissue and produce a robust granulation tissue in the wound. Here was the maggots can help," he concluded

Posted in: Health

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