A systematic review on the use of transforming powder dressing for wound care

Abstract

The transforming powder dressing (Altrazeal®, Uluru Inc, Addison, TX, USA) is simple to use, painless to apply and has a wear time of up to 30 days. This study aims to review the current literature to elucidate the impact of transforming powder dressing on healing, pain management and overall patient outcomes. We conducted a systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Data including study characteristics, patient demographics and wound outcomes were extracted. Our systematic review included 26 articles (n = 175). Of these articles, 13 (50%) were case reports, 10 (38.5%) were case series, 2 (7.7%) were randomised controlled trials and 1 (3.8%) was a cohort study. Wound types included venous ulcer (23.9%), pressure sore (19.7%), burn (15.5%), skin graft (13.4%), diabetic foot ulcer (4.2%), Mohs defect (3.5%) and other (19.6%). Complete re-epithelialization occurred in 90.1% of the wounds. A total of 19 studies (73%) discussed pain, each of which reported reduced pain with the use of transforming powder dressing. The evaluated studies collectively suggest that transforming powder dressing offers a promising re-epithelialization rate and analgesic effect across various wound types.