Effect of Bioactive Glass Wound Matrix on Non-healing Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Introduction: It is estimated that 18.6 million people worldwide and 1.6 million in the US are affected by diabetic foot ulcers annually [1]. Synthetic materials such as bioactive glass are becoming commercially relevant as the next generation of skin substitutes. A case series consist- ing of eight patients with non-healing diabetic foot wounds managed with bioactive glass wound matrix therapy is presented presently. Methods: A case series of eight patients with non-healing diabetic foot ulcers were managed with weekly applications of bioactive glass wound matrix. All patients presented with non-healing diabetic ulcerations failed to heal by standard of care therapy. Patients saw rapid progress after starting the bioactive glass wound matrix applications. After the diabetic ulceration resolved, excellent tissue remodeling was observed in all patients. Results: All eight non-healing diabetic wounds resolved after appli- cation of the bioactive glass wound matrix. Of these resolved wounds, tissue quality was noted as excellent and formally painful wounds were reported to have resolved after just the couple applications. Discussion: Improvement in wound healing progressing was observed in each of the eight patients. These findings are consistent with a previ- ously published RCT comparing bioactive glass wound matrix to standard of care in a 40-patient trial on diabetic foot ulcers [2]. Patients with painful wounds have also reported a significant reduction in pain after the application of bioactive glass wound matrix [3-4]. The improvement in these patients is significant due to the complicated nature of the patients and the severity of the wounds. While the number of wounds in this case series is small, it provides sufficient real-world data to suggest bioactive glass wound matrix has can have a significant impact on non-healing diabetic foot wounds.