Doctoral Themes

Multi-functional natural based wound dressings for malignant fungating wounds

Supervisors

Matilde Marques, matilde.marques@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Ana Paula Serro, anapaula.serro@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Diana Silva, dianacristinasilva@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Registration Institution

Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa

Project description

Wound dressings are intended to ameliorate chronic wounds, by promoting optimal conditions for tissue regeneration. Unfortunately, in many situations complete wound closure, although desirable may not be attainable. It is the case of malignant fungating wounds (MFW) that derive from the tumour or metastasis infiltration into the skin, afferent blood and/or lymph vessels. MWF damage goes beyond physical suffering, raising strong psychological stress to the patient and family/carers. The best current treatments rely on dressings to control exudate and bleeding, on topical application or oral antiseptics and anti-inflammatory drugs. The prevalence of MFW is still unclear, but reports advance that up to 5-15% of advanced cancer patients may develop it, presenting various physical symptoms, e.g., pain, exudate, bleeding and malodour. In this work, natural polymers (e.g., alginate, casein) and natural derived drugs (e.g., ursolic acid, oxymatrine) will be combined to obtain non-adherent multilayer wound dressings. Taking advantage of the polymers’ capacity to manage exudate and bleeding, while providing a therapeutic release of drugs known to stimulate anti-cancer, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antipruritic responses, new solutions to improve wound healing will be developed. A second layer will be added in the dressings for odour management. Extensive characterisation of the physical properties crucial for dressings will be carried out, as well as studies regarding dressings’ capacity to withstand sterilisation methods. In vivo case studies guided by veterinary doctors, in which pre-existing MFW in animals will be treated with the developed dressings to evaluate healing progress, are planned.

Keywords

Wound dressings; Malignant fungating wounds; Natural based polymers; Materials characterisation; Plant-based drugs

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