- A new study has revealed that maggots can do a better
job than surgeons at removing dead tissue from wounds.
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- A Perth conference has heard the year-long Tasmanian
study used sterile maggots on patients with leg ulcers.
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- Many of the patients had diseases such as diabetes, which
made surgery dangerous.
-
- One of the authors of the study, Dr Alvin Cham, says
maggots can clean slow-healing wounds more accurately than surgeons.
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- "All we can see is what the naked eyes can see,
so we just take away whatever we think is unhealthy," he said.
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- "We might under-remove or over-remove but maggots,
all they do is just clean up dead tissue."
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- Dr Cham says using maggots allows patients to avoid surgery.
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- "The patients that we see with leg ulcers and chronic
wounds, they're generally unwell, diabetic, and have circulation problems
affecting not only their leg, but their heart," he said.
-
- "If you reduce the incidence of going to surgery
and have general anaesthetic, then they have a protective effect... less
risk factors."
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- © 2005 ABC
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- http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1368188.htm
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