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Abscess Packing Versus Wick Placement After Incision and Drainage

NCT01281930 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 156

Last updated 2018-06-19

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Abscesses or "boils" are becoming more common every year and are a common reason children come to the Emergency Department. For the abscess to heal the skin needs to be opened to let the pus come out. Often doctors put something called "packing material" or gauze into the abscess space to help aid in healing. It is not known if the type of "packing" that is done is necessary or if a more simple treatment is as good or better. With informed consent we randomly place a child into one (1) of two (2) groups in this study that will say if the child's abscess/boil is packed with gauze in the traditional way or if a wick (small piece) of gauze is placed after the abscess/boil is opened and the fluid is drained. After treatment in the emergency department the child will be scheduled to follow-up in the Pediatric Acute Wound Service (PAWS) clinic as all other children with this infection are scheduled. At this visit the healing of the wound will be checked by the staff in the clinic and will be scored. With this evaluation of the wound the hypothesis that for a simple superficial (skin) abscess/boil a gauze wick placement into the abscess/boil is as effective as placement of traditional gauze packing.

Conditions

  • Superficial Abscess Packing

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Full packing into abscess cavity

After incision and drainage plain 1/4-1/2 inch gauze packing material is placed into the cavity to fill it

PROCEDURE

Wick placement into abscess cavity

After incision and drainage of the abscess a piece of plain gauze 1/4-1 inch packing material that is as wide as can be easily passed through the opening is placed into the cavity spanning one diameter of the cavity

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Washington University School of Medicine

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
6 Months
Max Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2009-06-30
Primary Completion
2015-11-30
Completion
2015-11-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01281930 on ClinicalTrials.gov