Performance of a gelling fibre and silicone foam dressing combination for wound management in the community: a sub-analysis of the VIPES study

Objective: In French community settings, it is common to use a combination of a gelling fibre dressing (Biatain Fiber, Coloplast A/S, Denmark) and a silicone foam dressing (Biatain Silicone, Coloplast A/S, Denmark) for wound management, despite the lack of reimbursement by social security systems. A sub-analysis of the real-world, prospective, observational VIPES (Observatoire en Ville des Plaies ExSudatives) study assessed the use of this dressing combination. Method: In this sub-analysis of the VIPES study, wound healing/wound bed outcomes and nurse/patient satisfaction were assessed. Results: Overall, 76 patients were included. At baseline, mean±standard deviation wound area was 10.1±16.9cm 2 , with low (35.5%), moderate (44.7%) or high (19.7%) exudate levels; 80.3% of patients had exudate pooling. At the final follow-up visit (median (range): 28.5 (2–148) days post-baseline), 27.6% of wounds had healed and 52.7% showed progression towards healing. From baseline to the final follow-up visit, there were significant reductions in wound area (by a mean of 4.7±12.3cm 2 ; p<0.005), exudate level (p<0.0001), and exudate pooling (p<0.0001), and significant improvements in wound edges (p<0.001), and periwound skin (p<0.05). Across 403 gelling fibre dressing removals, most cases showed ‘no/minor’ shrinkage (94.1%) and no adherence to the wound bed (79.8%). At the final follow-up visit, wound improvement was reported by 73.0% of patients and by 77.0% of nurses. For most wounds, nurses agreed that the dressing combination reduced the number of dressing changes, led to greater synergy of action to promote wound healing versus previous dressing(s) used (79.7% and 93.2%, respectively), and achieved optimal healing (94.6% of wounds). Nurses also agreed that the gelling fibre and silicone foam dressing combination was ‘very effective’/‘effective’ for 93.3% of all wounds. Conclusion: In this sub-analysis, combining gelling fibre and silicone foam dressing in community practice supported healing of hard-to-heal exuding wounds.