New Wound Treatment Device Gets Preliminary Recommendation from NICE
The UK's cost containment agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), issued draft guidance on 14 November 2013 recommending the use of the Debrisoft monofilament debridement pad for treating chronic wounds, such as pressure and leg ulcers, and acute wounds such as those occurring from a burn or as a complication of surgery.
The device is a single-use polyester pad that improves wound healing, and would save the National Health Service as much as $750 per patient treated by eliminating the need for an analgesic and replacing the standard method of debridement, which requires a clinical setting.
Debridement is a term used for wound cleaning, which entails the removal from a wound of dead, damaged, or infected skin. According to NICE, chronic wounds affect "hundreds of thousands of people."