Atrauman Ag – silver-containing impregnated dressing for infection control
The germicidal effect of silver-containing wound dressings has been known for a long time. With the silver-containing impregnated dressing Atrauman Ag we succeeded in developing a product with a reliable bactericidal effect but with only low cytotoxicity so that wound healing is not impaired.
The carrier material of Atrauman Ag consists of a wide-meshed hydrophobic textile made of polyamide. It is coated with metallic silver which is chemically bound to the carrier material. The carrier material coated with silver is in turn impregnated with a hydrophilic ointment mass. The entire system has a high air and water vapor permeability. This design provides decisive benefits: Placed on the wound, the argentiferous ointment dressing releases silver ions from its surface on contact with the exudate. These ions largely remain in the direct surroundings of the wound dressing – only very few ions enter the wound itself – and attach to the surface of the bacteria and kill them reliably. The wound exudate is taken up together with the killed bacteria in the absorbent dressing.
Mode of action: Bacteria (green) are killed on contact with Atrauman Ag and then taken up with the wound secretion (yellow) and the released endotoxins in the secondary wound dressing. The long-lasting bactericidal effect of Atrauman Ag was proven in a laboratory test.
The fewer silver ions are delivered into the wound and thus into the cells of the skin, the lower the toxicity of an argentiferous wound dressing is. The low toxicity of Atrauman Ag was proven in tests (method ASTM 2180) with the human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT. The bactericidal activity spectrum of Atrauman Ag is extremely wide and includes gram-positive as well as gram-negative strains of bacteria. The bactericidal effect lasts not only for a short time but also over a long period. Finally, the ointment impregnation provides for the care of the wound margins and counteracts sticking. An especially important and practical feature of Atrauman Ag is that it can be combined with many different wound dressings as a secondary dressing. For example with the foam dressing PermaFoam, the calcium alginate Sorbalgon or also with traditional wound dressings such as ES gauze swabs or Zetuvit.
