Recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor accelerates wound healing in patients with burns, donor sites and chronic dermal ulcers

Objective To evaluate the effect of recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor(rbFGF) on accelerating healing of burn wounds, donor sites and chronic dermal ulcers in multicenters Methods One thousand and twenty four patients with burns, donor sites and chronic dermal ulcers were recruited for this prospective and multicenter clinical trial and another 641 patients with the similar wounds were used as controls All patients were divided into three groups: burn group, donor site group, and chronic dermal ulcer group In the burn group, 654 patients with superficial second degree burns( superficial Ⅱ ) or deep second degree burns( deep Ⅱ ) were treated topically with either recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor (rbFGF plus vehicle, rbFGF 150 ?AU/cm 2/day, 330 patients) or placebo (vehicle without rbFGF, 324 patients) In the donor site group, 509 patients were treated with rbFGF and 317 patients with placebo in a similar way as described elsewhere In the chronic dermal ulcer group, 185 patients were treated with rbFGF and the controls were themselves Photography, histological evaluation and clinical examination were used to evaluate the results of wound healing Results All of superficial second degree burns, deep second degree burns and the donor sites treated with recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor had an accelerated rate of granulation tissue formation and epidermal regeneration as compared with that in the controls Superficial second degree burns and deep second degree burns treated with recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor healed in 9 89±2 45 and 17 04±4 56 days, respectively, whereas the average healing time in those receiving placebo was 12 35±2 74 and 21 21±4 88 days The donor sites treated with rbFGF or placebo healed in 10 68±4 55 and 14 74±6 46 days, respectively All chronic dermal ulcers except 12 patients treated with rbFGF healed within 6 weeks Histological evaluation of punch biopsy specimens from the burn wounds, donor sites and chronic dermal ulcers seven days after treatment supported the impression of accelerated wound healing after rbFGF treatment Conclusions rbFGF is effective in shortening the wound healing time and improving the wound healing quality Accelerating wound healing is of clinical benefit in reducing the length of hospitalization, costs and emotional burden of the patient