The efficacy of the Kerecis fish skin treatment for diabetic lower-extremity wounds has been affirmed in a new peer-reviewed article published in the journal Wounds.
The paper, “Acellular Fish Skin Graft Use for Diabetic Lower Extremity Wound Healing: a Retrospective Study of 58 Ulcerations and a Literature Review,” was co-authored by Shannon Michael (St Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, USA; Food & Ankle Clinics of Arizona, Chandler, USA); Christopher Winters, (American Health Network, St Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, USA); and Maliha Khan, DPM (St Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, USA).
According to a statement, the three-year retrospective study evaluated the efficacy of the Kerecis Omega3 rich fish skin used as grafts in the treatment of full-thickness diabetic foot ulcers. In the trial, the fish skin was used to treat 51 patients with a total of 58 wounds. The investigator then compared the initial wound surface area with the final wound surface area to calculate the percentage of the total wounds that healed over a 16-week treatment period.
The trial found that there was “a mean reduction of wound surface area by 87.57% and 35 wounds (more than 60%) were fully healed.” In addition to the treatment, the authors reviewed 10 articles about fish skin grafts, three of which specifically evaluated lower extremity ulcers.
Overall, the authors concluded that the study supports increased wound healing rates with the use of fish skin grafts for the treatment of diabetic wounds. Furthermore, rapid wound-surface-area reduction during the initial four weeks following graft application validates previous research that fish skin grafts enable diabetic wounds to transition from a chronic inflammatory stage to an acute wound environment for healing.
“This study is part of the growing body of evidence affirming the efficacy of the Kerecis fish-skin wound treatment,” said G Fertram Sigurjonsson, founder and CEO of Kerecis. “The paper is particularly timely as this is National Diabetes Month, which seeks to draw attention to the devastating impact this disease has on so many lives,” he added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 30 million people, almost 10% of the U.S. population, have diabetes. According to an article in The American Journal of Managed Care, 230 Americans with diabetes will suffer an amputation every day. Throughout the world, it is estimated that every 30 seconds a leg is amputated, and 85% of these amputations are the result of a diabetic foot ulcer.
