Treatment of venous ulcers with growth factors: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

To identify evidence about the effects of growth factor application on venous ulcer healing.

METHOD: Systematic review and meta-analysis, including Randomized Clinical Trials. Searches: Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL, LILACS, Web of Science, Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations; Google Scholar and list of references.

RESULTS

802 participants were recruited from the 10 included studies: 472 in the intervention group (growth factors) and 330 as control. The relative risk for the complete healing outcome was 1.06 [95% CI 0.92-1.22], p = 0.41. Participants who received Platelet-Rich Plasma and Epidermal Growth Factor showed a slight tendency to achieve complete healing, but without statistical relevance (p <0.05). Most of the studies were classified as moderate risk of bias.

CONCLUSION

The effect of the application of growth factors for complete healing in venous ulcers is not clear, and clinical trials with methodological quality are required for more accurate recommendations.