Content area
Full text
Introduction
Pressure ulcers are caused by long-term compression of parts of the body, blood circulation disorder, sustained ischemia, hypoxia of local tissue and nutritional deficiencies. This leads to the loss of normal function of skin and causes tissue damage and necrosis (1). The pressure leads to poor circulation and eventually contributes to cell death, skin breakdown and the development of an open wound. If not adequately treated, open ulcers become a source of pain, disability and infection. The prevalence of pressure ulcers in nursing home residents ranges from 8 to 24% and the annual incidence approaches 12% (2–4). Methods to prevent and control pressure ulcers are the main focus of clinical nursing (5). The standard options for treating pressure ulcers include surgical, mechanical, autolytic and enzymatic debridement (6). In China, therapies collectively called traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are commonly used. This includes cured rot and flat sore ointment (CHMO), acupuncture and moxibustion (7). TCM has been used for the prevention and treatment of ulcers for many years. A variety of methods have been used for pressure ulcer treatment, although they have different prescription formulations, the role of the main approach is to improve local blood circulation and enhance tissue regeneration (8).
The doctors at The General Hospital of Jinan Military Area Command (Jinan, China) use a variety of drugs for the treatment of pressure ulcers, including Arnebia root oil (ARO), Jing Wan Hong ointment and YuHong ointment. However, none of these effectively alleviate the pain of patients lying in bed and they have a slow curative effect and long healing time. With years of clinical experience of the treatment of pressure ulcers and TCM research, we developed a TCM ointment called cured rot and flat sore ointment (CRFSO), composed of gypsum fibrosum (18 g) and three herbal medicines: hydrargyrum oxydatum crudum (9 g); red orpiment (6 g) and borneol (0.9 g). Following clinical use, the effect of CRFSO in the treatment of pressure sores was observed to be superior to that of other drugs. For verification, a randomized, controlled and retrospective clinical study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CRFSO. A total of 35 consecutive patients with pressure sores following paraplegia received CRFSO or ARO treatment from January 2004 to September...