The effects of Ibuprofen-releasing foam dressing on wound pain in leg ulcers

Aim: Ulcus cruris represents one end-point of complications linked to the venous hypertension of lower extremities, as inadequately supplied sclerotic tissue breaks down and healing is largely impaired. Today the advanced leg ulcer treatment is based on wound dressing that can contain analgesics in order to diminish pain. The aim of this non randomized one year study was to analyze the effects of ibuprofen-releasing foam dressing on wound pain in leg ulcers in order to ameliorate the quality of life in patients. Methods: In this one-year study 288 patients with leg ulcers were analyzed, among which 28 patients were prescribed ibuprofen-releasing foam dressing without peroral analgesic therapy, while 30 patients continued peroral analgesic therapy with silver-releasing foam dressing as a control group. The primary endpoint was to determine wound pain relief in the first two days among patients treated with. Results: We observed a statistically significant decrease of pain intensity in the first two days of therapy, but not a significant different rate of ulcer healing compared to the control group. Conclusion: Based on these results we concluded that foams with analgesics could be a treatment of choice for chronic leg wounds with intense pain.