Biological debridement with maggots in chronic wounds: a case series -

The management of all wounds requires a holistic approach. After a holistic assessment, attention must be focused on the wound bed. One of the most important factors during wound bed preparation is the removal of necrotic tissue. Maggot debridement treatment (MDT) is one of debridement methods. Because of its advantages as well as disadvantages compared with other methods, patient selection is important. We evaluated the patients who received MDT for non-healing wounds between 2013 and 2015 in this study. It was planned as a prospective case series. Patients needing sharp debridement received this treatment. The diameter of the wounds was measured before and after treatment. A culture sample was collected from each patient before treatment. A post-treatment sample was collected when it was justified by clinical suspicion of infection. We used MDT in 12 patients with non-healing wounds. Microbiological samples taken before MDT application revealed bacterial pathogens in 7 patients and fungal pathogen in one patient. After MDT, only 2 patients had positive wound culture. The other patients were not subjected to wound culture because they did not have any sign of infection. After the MDT application, a decrease in necrotic tissue and increase in granulation tissue was observed. We showed that MDT decreases necrotic tissue in chronic wounds. Since MDT is an easy and cost-effective treatment, it can be considered in selected cases.