Evaluation in vivo and in vitro of the performance of interactive dressings in the management of animal soft tissue injuries.

Over the last 35 years there has been extensive research into human wounds and consequent evolutionary changes in their management. Products such as vapour-permeable films, alginates, hydro-colloids, hydrogels and foams have been developed, all of which contribute in different ways to the enhance-ment of the healing cascade. The first part of this study assessed the influence on animal wound healing of some of these contemporary wound-management products  With animal wounds the major problem is their isolation from the aggression of both the patient and the environment. The second part of this paper is directed at the development of an occlusive chamber to enable topically applied medicaments to remain in contact with the wound surface and presents the initial results of a programme of investigation directed at producing a 'ring' adhesive to overcome the adherence problems presented by lipid concentration and hirsutism. This adhesive also allows successive applications of contemporary dressings.