Tissue Viability

Oxygen has been used to aid wound healing for a number of years, primarily through Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO). However for various reasons it has not been widely adopted.

OXYZYME and IODOZYME use advanced chemistry to work like a molecular pump, drawing in oxygen from the atmosphere and releasing iodine to the surface of the wound.

Both dressings have two components: an advanced hydrogel sheet containing glucose that is placed directly onto the wound, and an enzyme sheet that contains glucose oxidase, a natural enzyme found, for example, in honey.

The chemistry is triggered when the enzyme sheet is placed on top of the glucose-containing gel. Atmospheric oxygen at the surface of the enzyme sheet is trapped by the glucose oxidase and converted to a low level of hydrogen peroxide. This creates an oxygen gradient that allows more oxygen to be drawn into the dressing. The hydrogen peroxide is freely soluble in the aqueous medium of the dressing (unlike oxygen) and can readily diffuse through the dressing. Some of the hydrogen peroxide reacts with iodide within the dressing, to produce a small amount of iodine (evidenced by the colour of the dressing changing to amber or gold). Iodine has long been known for its antibacterial properties, and helps to produce an environment that is hostile to bacteria.

Being indicated for infected wounds, IODOZYME releases a relatively higher amount of iodine than OXYZYME.

Clinical trials in 2005, conducted by Prof. Gary Sibbald (head of the Toronto Wound Healing Centres, Canada, and a world leading authority in wound care) found that long term wounds, some of which had been present for a year or more, showed visible improvement in just four weeks. Further trials in the UK (in Cardiff and Aberdeen) in 2006 showed that over two thirds of wounds of 12 weeks duration (or longer) significantly improved after six weeks.

Prof. Sibbald said: “The OXYZYME™ platform is a fundamentally new approach to moist wound healing and shows exciting promise in difficult to heal chronic wounds.”