Abstract
Objective:
To compare the efficacy of a long-stretch bandage with that of a short-stretch compression bandage.
Design:
Prospective evaluation of healing of venous leg ulcers in blindly randomized groups of patients.
Setting:
Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Patients:
Forty-three patients with venous leg ulcers were included. Forty legs in 40 patients were evaluated at 1 month (34 patients), 6 months (32 patients) or 12 months (27 patients).
Interventions:
Both types of bandage were used at a width of 10 cm and applied using the same spiral bandaging technique.
Main outcome measures:
Ulcer healing and ulcer area reduction.
Results:
Healed ulcers after 1 month were observed in 27% of the long-stretch group and in 5% of the short-stretch group (p = 0.15); after 6 months the corresponding figures were 50% and 36% (p = 0.49) and after 12 months 71% and 30% (p = 0.06). Using life-table analysis the predicted healing rate in the long-stretch group after 12 months was 81% and for the short-stretch group 31% (p = 0.03). The mean of relative ulcer areas at 1 month was 0.45 for the long-stretch group and 0.72 for the short-stretch group (p = 0.07), at 6 months the corresponding figures were 0.81 and 0.60 (p = 0.25) and at 12 months 0.25 and 0.95 (p = 0.01).
Conclusions:
The present study appears to indicate a Positive influence of the elasticity of a compression bandage on venous ulcer healing.
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