Manuka honey improved wound healing in patients with sloughy venous leg ulcers

Study design

Design:

randomised controlled trial.

Allocation:

concealed.*

Blinding:

blinded (statistician).*

Study question

Setting:

vascular centres, leg ulcer clinics, and acute and community care hospitals.

Patients:

108 patients >18 years of age (mean age 68 y) who had a venous leg ulcer (VLU) <100 cm² with [= or >, slanted]50% of the wound bed covered in slough. Exclusion criteria were malignant ulcer, wound infection, presence of a cavity wound, use of antibiotics or oral immunosuppressants, poorly controlled diabetes, pregnancy or lactation, and previous enrolment in the study.

Intervention:

Wounds were cleansed with warm tap water and then treated with 5 g/20 cm² Manuka honey (n = 54), or 3 g/20 cm² hydrogel therapy (n = 54), weekly for 4 weeks. Use of Allevyn hydrocellular foam as secondary dressings and compression therapy continued throughout the treatment period. Treatment after week 4 was determined by the local investigator.

Outcomes:

VLU desloughing at 4 weeks and wound healing at 12 weeks.

Follow-up period:

12 weeks.

Patient follow-up:

100% in intention-to-treat analysis.

Main results

At 4 weeks, groups did not differ for rate of reduction of slough or percentage of the wound bed...