ulcers: Randomized controlled trial

Abstract—A single-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate vacuum-compression therapy (VCT) for the healing of diabetic foot ulcers. Eighteen diabetic patients with foot ulcers were recruited through simple non-probability sampling. Subjects were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. Before and after intervention, the foot ulcer surface area was estimated stereo-logically, based on Cavalieri’s principle. The experimental group was treated with VCT in addition to conventional ther-apy for 10 sessions. The control group received only conven-tional therapy, including debridement, blood glucose control agents, systemic antibiotics, wound cleaning with normal saline, offloading (pressure relief), and daily wound dress-ings. The mean foot ulcer surface area decreased from 46.88 +/ – 9.28 mm2 to 35.09 +/ – 4.09 mm2 in the experimen-tal group (p = 0.006) and from 46.62 +/ – 10.03 mm2 to 42.89 +/ – 8.1 mm2 in the control group (p = 0.01). After treat-ment, the experimental group significantly improved in meas-ures of foot ulcer surface area compared with the control group (p = 0.024). VCT enhances diabetic foot ulcer healing when combined with appropriate wound care