Novel Wound Dressing for Chronic Ulcers

描述（由申请人提供）：保守估计表明，超过200万人每年在美国。S.由于人口老龄化，这些人的基数可能会增加。1992年，初步诊断为压力性溃疡的病人的平均住院费用约为22 000美元，这是一笔巨大的费用，由于管理式护理的财政压力，将越来越难以承受。随着治疗这些慢性伤口的成本每年达到数十亿美元并不断上升，需要的是一种治疗，该治疗利用对（1）压力溃疡及其缓解的基础生物学和生物化学的基本理解，并将该知识应用于（2）生物材料科学和控释技术，从而允许以合理的科学方式治疗这些伤口。此外，这种治疗应该提供一种成本意识强的替代当今（昂贵的）治疗方法，此外，还可以减轻这些“难以治愈”患者的痛苦，并提供更好的整体患者结局。描述了一种非粘附性水凝胶敷料的开发，该敷料将从伤口中去除液体，并添加低剂量抗生素，能够去除阻碍愈合的有害伤口因素。为此，我们已经确定了一种具有独特加工特征的新型聚合物，可以为植根于生物技术的现有昂贵产品提供低成本的替代治疗。因此，提出的主要具体目标是开发具有成本效益的水凝胶敷料，其提供湿润粘附的伤口愈合环境，并将基质金属蛋白酶（MMP）抑制剂，特别是MMP-8抑制剂递送至溃疡伤口床，目的是促进更快速的愈合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Conservative estimates suggest that over 2 million people annually in the U. S. alone suffer from ulcers, and the base of those so afflicted is likely to increase in view of an aging population. Mean hospital charges of patients with a primary diagnosis for pressure ulcers were about $22,000 in 1992, a significant cost that will become increasingly difficult to bear with managed care financial pressures. With costs to treat these chronic wounds reaching into the billions of dollars annually and rising, what is needed is a treatment that makes use of the fundamental understanding of (1) the underlying biology and biochemistry of pressure ulcers and their mitigation, and applying this knowledge to (2) biomaterials science and controlled release technology, thus allowing the treatment of these wounds in a rational scientific manner. Furthermore, the treatment should provide a cost-conscious alternative to today's (expensive) therapies that in addition, relieves suffering for these "hard-to-heal'' patients and provides better overall patient outcomes. The development of a non-adherent hydrogel dressing that will remove fluid from the wound and also add a low dose antibiotic with the capability of removing noxious wound factors that impede healing is described. Toward that end, we have identified a novel polymer with unique processing characteristics that offers a low-cost alternative treatment to existing costly products rooted in biotechnology. Thus, the major specific aim set forth is to develop cost-effective hydrogel dressing that provides a moisthon-adherent wound healing environment, and delivers a Matrix MetalloProteinase (MMP) inhibitor, specifically a MMP-8 inhibitor, to the ulcer wound bed with the intent of promoting more rapid healing.