Novel Use of Tubular Dressing for Lower Leg Wound Treatment – A Case Series

In a community wound care clinic, introduction of a novel use of a tubular dressing securement system (TDS) influenced healing times on five patients who experienced venous, arterial, mixed, and lymphatic comorbidities with lower extremity wounds.

Following standard of care for treatment of lower leg wounds, patients continued to have recalcitrant wound findings with wound age as little as 30 days and as long as 2.5 years. The DesJardins et al. (2018) study on pressure mapping with use of Fuzzy Wale Compression, also known as TDS, demonstrated evidence of “alternating compression profile,” noting that in lower areas of pressure, venous and lymphatic vessels can remain open to allow for better reduction of edema.

Clinic patients had an initial evaluation and lower extremity and wound assessment with physical examination. Patients received primary wound dressing application based on wound presentation, and TDS was donned as the secondary dressing to allow for intimate contact with skin as per manufacturer recommendations. Patients followed up weekly and were reevaluated. With the introduction of a TDS, healing times and edema measurements were greatly reduced, in addition to improved patient compliance with their compression management system. Wound healing times varied from two weeks to three months after implementation of TDS in conjunction with wound care dressing.

Below are the presented case studies for five patients who were observed to have improvement in skin, reduction of edema, and reduction in wound healing times. In conclusion, the novel TDS is a dressing with many attributes displaying positive outcomes in wound healing for patients.