血液凝胶可治愈慢性伤口

    A gel made from a cocktail of the patient’s own blood and vitamin C offers a new way to treat chronic* wounds.

    The mixture is thought to kick-start a patient’s own repair mechanisms and close wounds that have failed to heal for months or even years.

    Initial results suggest nine out of 10 wounds that hadn’t healed for nearly a year responded to the new gel.

    Sixty-six patients with diabetic* foot ulcers* are now taking part in an NHS* trial to test the treatment’s effectiveness.

    A large proportion of chronic wounds treated by the NHS each year are diabetic foot ulcers — open wounds or sores that develop on the skin of the foot as a common complication of diabetes.

    They are caused by factors including peripheral neuropathy*, where chronic exposure to high blood sugar damages nerves and leads to reduced sensation in the feet.

    The new gel builds on a technique called platelet-rich plasma (PRP)*.

    It involves doctors taking a sample of a patient’s blood and spinning it in a centrifuge* to separate out the plasma — a clear serum that is rich in platelets, cells important for clotting* — and proteins called growth factors that help with healing.

    The new gel is made using an advanced form of spinning that also separates out a protein called thrombin*, which helps activate the platelets and boosts tissue regeneration. Doctors then add vitamin C to create a gel.

    This is all done at the patient’s bedsides in devices supplied by UK company Biotherapy Services.

    Vitamin C is thought to have a key role in the gel, as it is involved in the production of collagen*, a tough protein that helps rebuild lost tissue and close a wound.

    (SD-Agencies)