Continuity of Care: Retrospective Review of Ovine Forestomach Matrix Efficacy Across All Phases of Wound Healing

Ovine Forestomach Matrix (OFM) has demonstrated great clinical efficacy in the treatment of acute and chronic wounds in the out-patient setting[1]. Recently, newer particulate+ and robust layered-sheet^ iterations of OFM have shown excellent results in the operative setting to facilitate granulation tissue in complex volumetric wounds[2].

The authors sought to investigate the effectiveness of OFM to stabilize complex contaminated wounds as part of initial surgical management and subsequently use single-layer OFM* to facilitate closure. In this retrospective case series, the authors highlight their initial experience with OFM across all phases of wound healing and various points-of-care to streamline product usage and consequent cost of those treatments.

This retrospective case series included seven patients who underwent in-patient surgical management of complex lower extremity soft tissue defects utilizing OFM layered-sheet and/or OFM particulate to firstly build up robust granulation tissue and provide coverage to exposed structures. Subsequently, out-patient treatment continued single-layer OFM on an outpatient basis to facilitate full epithelialization. Single-layer OFM was used in these patients as their co-morbidities and/or cost negated the use of split-thickness skin grafts (STSG) or skin substitute products.

All patients had significant factors complicating healing trajectory such as wound chronicity, un-controlled diabetes, sickle cell anemia, and history of non-compliance.All seven patients went on to full closure and suffered no complications related to the use of OFM at any point. Average time to closure from initial procedure was 12.1 weeks. One patient had lost STSG due to non-compliance and achieved full closure with weekly OFM application 4 weeks thereafter.

These promising results provide preliminary insights into the clinical efficacy of OFM to facilitate granulation in complex, volumetric, contaminated wounds initially and promote ultimate epithelialization as an out-patient. This can reduce costs and streamline product selection for clinicians.