Decompression Effects of Dressing Materials on Pressure Ulcers

Abstract

　This experimental study is aimed to confirm how materials used for pressure ulcer effect the decompression on the sacral region under the certain conditions. The procedures of the experiment were as follows: 10 conditions were examined. One is no dressing on the sacral region. The other conditions were nine different dressings; ①5 pieces of gauze, ②10 pieces of gauze, ③20 pieces of gauze, all folded into quarters; ④20 pieces of gauze folded in half, ⑤hydrocolloid dressing; ⑥hydrophilic polyurethane dressing; and ⑦5 pieces of gauze folded into quarters, ⑧hydrocolloid dressing, ⑨hydrophilic polyurethane dressing, these were soaked with 10 ml of 5% saline solution. The pressure was measured under above conditions on a bed with two different types of mattresses. These were standard mattress and decompression mattress (Maxifloat^®, Paramount). The subject group included 30 healthy male and female adults between the ages of 32-66. The results indicated that the pressure rose significantly with the use of dressings in all nine dressing conditions, when the subject used a decompression mattress, compared to the none use of dressing. The results also indicated that there were no rise of pressure using less than 10 pieces of gauze on both standard and decompression mattress. Therefore, it was not effective to use gauze, hydrocolloid, or hydrophilic dressing when we use the decompression mattress for the purpose of decreasing pressure. Pressure might rather increase on ulcers in the sacral region. Further study is needed to identify these indications using other decompression mattresses.