Reepithelialization of partial thickness porcine burns treated with silver sulfadiazine, triple antibiotic or petrolatum.

Topical antibiotic application and occlusive dressings stand as the current standard of care for partial thickness burn (PTB) treatment. Silver sulfadiazine (SSD) is the most widely used topical antimicrobial agent for acute burn management worldwide. Despite its antimicrobial benefits, there is emerging evidence that SSD might delay wound reepithelialization. We hypothesized that when compared with a topical antibiotic ointment, wound reepithelialization with SSD would be delayed. We created 21 partial thickness burns on the backs of 3 anesthetized female domestic pigs (30kg) using an established vertical progression model. The burns were randomly assigned to topical treatment with SSD, triple antibiotic ointment, or petrolatum ointment applied daily for two weeks, followed by twice weekly for another 2 weeks with intermittent dressing changes. The primary outcome was percentage wound reepithelialization at day 21. Our study had 80% power to detect a 25-percentage difference in wound reepithelialization at day 21. All wounds were completely reepithelialized within 28 days of burn creation. At day 21 the mean (SD) percentages for wound reepithelialization were 73.6 (38.2), 93.2 (16.3), and 65.0 (48.9) in wounds treated with SSD, triple antibiotic, and petrolatum respectively, P=0.049. There was no significant difference among treatment groups in scar depth at day 28. Pseudoeschar formation and erythematous hypersensitivity reactions were common findings on gross analysis with SSD and topical antibiotics respectively. We conclude that SSD delayed reepithelialization of partial thickness porcine burns when compared with triple antibiotic ointment. There were no significant differences in scar depth among the groups.