A prospective randomized controlled clinical investigation comparing two post-operative wound dressings used after elective hip and knee replacement; Mepilex® Border Post-Op versus Aquacel® surgical.

BACKGROUND

Post-operative wound complications, including blistering and surgical site infections, can increase recovery times, costs associated with hospital stay and morbidity.

AIM: To compare two post-operative wound dressings (Mepilex Border Post-Op and Aquacel Surgical), in patients undergoing elective hip or knee arthroplasty.

METHODS

International, open-label, prospective, superiority, multicentre, randomised, parallel-group, controlled trial. Primary outcome was dressing failure, a composite endpoint assessing four factors weighted from highest to lowest in relation to the risk of surgical site infection.

RESULTS

Mepilex Border Post-Op was comparable or superior to Aquacel® Surgical in all parameters investigated. Dressing failure rates, skin redness, itching under the dressing, pain during dressing removal and number of patients requiring a dressing change were low in both groups. Mepilex® Border Post-Op outperformed Aquacel Surgical for ease of application (p<0.0001) and removal (p<0.0001), ability to handle blood (p<0.0001), prevention of dressing residuals (p=0.0167), patient satisfaction of wearing the dressing during rehabilitation training (p=0.0037) and patients' overall experience with the dressing (P=0.0025).

CONCLUSION

Both dressings performed well in terms of minimizing post-operative wound complications. However, in relation to clinician satisfaction, minimization of pain and facilitation of patient comfort, Mepilex® Border Post-Op outperformed Aquacel Surgical.