Abstract Background: Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of serious consequences of diabetes mellitus leading to many complications. Chitosan is a natural polymer used in wound dressings and is effective on healing. Also, arginine is the most important amino acid in wound healing. In this study, the clinical effects of a topical gel containing arginine-releasing chitosan nanofibers on the healing of DFUs was evaluated. Methods: In this randomized controlled clinical trial, patients with grades 1 or 2 DFU were divided to two groups of drug ( n = 25) and control ( n = 31). For drug and control groups, arginine-releasing chitosan nanofibers gel and a type of novel dressing (Sorbact ® gel dressing) were applied every other day for 14 days. The percentage of change in wound size as well as the rate of complete healing of the ulcer (>90% reduction in the size) at the 7 th and 14 th days of the intervention was recorded and compared between the groups. Results: There was significant decrease in the wound size in both groups at the end of weeks 1 and 2 compared to the baseline. However, there was no significant difference between the groups regarding the percentage of decrease in the size. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of the rate of complete wound healing at the end of the study (9 cases 36% vs. 7 cases 22.58%, respectively; P = 0.269). Conclusions: Topical gel containing arginine-releasing chitosan nanofibers improves and accelerates the healing of DFUs. However, more studies are required to confirm these effects.
Ramazani et al. (Fri,) studied this question.