RT Journal
A1 BARESE S, CUONO CB
T1 DÉbridement of wounds with dakin's solution
JF Archives of Surgery
JO Archives of Surgery
YR 1989
FD January 1
VO 124
IS 1
SP 133
OP 133
DO 10.1001/archsurg.1989.01410010143029
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.1989.01410010143029
AB To the Editor.—Kozol et al conclude that the adverse effects of hypochlorites on various cell lines in their wound module argue against the use of Dakin's solution in open wounds. Unfortunately, extrapolations from cell culture or other "wound facsimiles" to the surgical wound are tenuous at best. Both hypochlorite itself, as well as compounds that generate hypochlorous acid (the active species of all hypochlorite microbicidal formulations), have enjoyed long-term clinical popularity principally because of their efficacy and safety.1-3The apparently contradictory results obtained by Kozol et al may, in part, be explained by the wound module, which bears little similarity to a real wound milieu. The cell culture environment lacks the organic substances (principally proteinaceous components of serum, fibrin, and collagen) of the clinical wound. It is well known that hypochlorites are consumed by organic matter.4,5 The absence of these organic substances in the wound module precludes