GATWICK, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The results of a recently completed study confirming for the first time the relationship between elevated protease activity (EPA) and skin graft failure will be presented at the European Wound Management Association (EWMA)’s conference in May 2013 by Prof. Franck Duteille MD, Head of Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Esthetic Surgery, University Hospital, Nantes, France, the study’s investigator and author. The presence of EPA was determined using WOUNDCHEK™ Protease Status, the world’s first point of care wound diagnostic test.
Clinicians have long suspected EPA to be detrimental to skin graft adherence, both for auto-grafts and human skin equivalents as reflected in a recently published consensus paper on this topic: “A point of care protease activity test could be used prior to use of skin grafts in order to improve the success rate of surgery as EPA has been identified as a possible contributing factor to graft failure.”1
During the Systagenix sponsored symposium chaired by Dr. Severin Läuchli, Prof. Duteille will present for the first time the data he has generated in a 30 patient study of split thickness skin graft (STSG) procedures, confirming the relationship between elevated protease activity (EPA) and skin graft failure. All wounds were tested for EPA using WOUNDCHEK™ Protease Status prior to grafting and the subsequent take rate was recorded and analysed. The clinical and economic implications of graft failure were then further documented.
“This new evidence is a true breakthrough and confirms the utility of WOUNDCHEK™ Protease Status in this application, providing critically important information for clinicians involved in performing skin graft procedures” comments Paolo Di Vincenzo, VP Global Marketing of Systagenix. “With every skin graft costing up to 6,000 Eur2 and all auto-grafts resulting in a second wound to the patient in the form of a donor site, the cost of graft failure is very high from both a monetary as well as human perspective”.
“The clinical and economic benefits of utilizing WOUNDCHEK™ Protease Status as a routine test prior to a skin graft procedure are significant.” comments Dr Rob Snyder, Systagenix Medical Director. “This is a 15 minute, less than 30 Euro point of care test with the potential to help prevent failed grafts costing thousands of Euros and causing unnecessary discomfort and pain for the patient. We are seeing mounting evidence of the benefits of introducing point of care diagnostic testing in wound care . This is why many of the world leading experts in this field have already agreed that the introduction of WOUNDCHEK™ Protease Status is the most exciting development in wound care in the last four decades.”
Established in 2008, following the acquisition of Johnson & Johnson’s professional wound care business, Systagenix is 100% dedicated to wound care, developing and marketing advanced wound diagnostic and therapeutic solutions and supplying over 20 million advanced wound dressings per month globally.
WOUNDCHEK™ Protease Status is not currently cleared by FDA for sale within the US market.
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1. Die Rolle eines Proteasen Schnelltests in der Wunddiagnostik. (2012) Wund Management.
2. DRG case value (J08B) = cost weight (1,979) x base rate (2.991,53 € BBFW2012) (Germany)