The Gregorio Marañón Hospital and the University of Navarra Clinic are going to carry out a pioneering trial to treat venous vascular ulcers with plasma —the fourth state of matter– using air at atmospheric pressure in the form of a jet.
A venous ulcer is a wound with loss of substance generally located in the legs caused by blood circulation problems. The standardized treatment for its approach is the use of absorbent alginate or hydrocolloid dressings, associated with an antiseptic to keep the ulcer moist and clean before closing it.
With this new technique, completely painless and which has been previously tested successfully in animal models, the hospital explained, it is expected that the vasodilator and bactericidal effect of the ionizing plasma will surpass the healing effect of the classic treatments used until now.
“This air flow applies two therapeutic mechanisms on the ulcer in a synergistic manner: local electric fields that reactivate blood microcirculation, and ionized oxygen and nitrogen that have a bactericidal effect that does not affect healthy cells, causing the wound to close quickly. “explained José María Lasso, head of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Service and principal investigator of the trial at the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital.
In this way, this technique seeks to overcome the “current therapeutic challenge” of tackling venous ulcers, which entail “a high personal expense in society and in the healthcare field” since patients with this pathology are usually chronically ill. who require daily treatment and who visit outpatient and hospital health services on numerous occasions.
“We apply the plasma like the effect of lightning – safely for the patient, naturally – that produces the ionization of the air on the wound,” highlighted Bernardo Hontanilla, scientific director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Clinic. University of Navarra and principal investigator of the trial.
TREATMENT DURATION
The duration of treatment in the clinical trial is ten weeks and the patient must go in person to the responsible hospital center twice a week. Anyone with this condition may participate in this clinical trial, as long as they are of legal age and not pregnant.
“We want to contrast this practice, which has been the most effective so far, with this new procedure that has the advantage of greater absorption of oxygen and glucose in the wound, in addition to its bactericidal effect, which would facilitate faster healing.” , pointed out the doctors from both hospitals, who emphasize that the objective of this trial is to determine the clinical effectiveness of ionizing plasma at atmospheric pressure in the form of a jet.