Biological Debridement

Biological debridement is a procedure where a doctor suggest the use of living organisms to remove dead tissue so the healing process of the wound can begin. The living organisms are live blow fly larvae (maggots). The maggots are sterile and have been disinfected in a controlled lab.

Biological debridement has been around for many years. William Baer was one of the first in the northern hemisphere to deliberately administer larvae to a patients wound. In the 1920s he discovered this specific organism while working at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He then went on to treat many children with osteomyelitis and soft tissue infections. During the 1930s maggot therapy was effectively …show more content…
Physicians started using maggot therapy again after a big rise in antibiotic resistances.

The Food and Drug Administration cleared medical maggots brand for marketing in 2004 for the United States. Maggot debridement therapy is prescribed by physicians to patients with chronic wounds such as pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, neuropathic foot ulcers along with non-healing traumatic or post-surgical wounds. The germ-free maggots are sterilized and disinfected in a controlled lab. The physician applies about 5-8 larvae per cm2 of wound surface area, they leave them in for about 48 hours depending on the size of the maggots and or wound. The smaller the maggots the longer they can stay debriding before the patient can start to feel them crawling around. Some pain occurs because the larvae are growing and crawling over exposed nerves. You can give pain medication as needed but if pain persist take the bandage off and change. The medical larvae are contained to the wound by a special netted dressing. This netted dressing helps keep the larvae from escaping the wound or dressing to migrate to other areas of the body. The larvae are immature and …show more content…
When physicians remove the tissue there is a bigger chance that they could puncture or scrap healthy tissue. In this case, the larvae are very accurate at just getting the dead tissue while leaving the healthy tissue alone.
They kill all the bad bacteria and stimulate the growth of healthy tissue.

Medical-grade maggots are available and have been since 2004. There are close to 12 laboratories in 20 different countries dispensing them at low cost. Contrary to popular belief larval therapy is the fastest and the safest way to get a wound to heal. Some disadvantage for this treatment is that it does cause some pain, some maggots may escape the dressing and all of the maggots are highly perishable so they need to be transported very quickly at certain temperatures. Some advantages are there is now a modern dressing that has helped keep all larvae maggots contained to the wound, oxygen concentration increases in the wound causing cell regrowth and they disinfect the wound by killing all the bad bacteria.

Even though drugs containing larvae secretions still maybe years away from