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A Comparison of Techniques for Treating Skin Abscesses

NCT01897675 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 233

Last updated 2018-04-06

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Management of abscesses traditionally involves incision and drainage (I\&D). Abscesses are frequently are "packed" or stented open with the presence of a wick, and traditional care requires re-visits every 2-3 days to have the packing removed and replaced, until finally the abscess cavity has closed, usually 1-2 weeks after initial presentation.

Recently there have been attempts to employ less invasive techniques for abscess management. One novel technique, "loop drainage", has been reported in case reports/case series for management of a variety of types of abscesses in the surgical subspecialty literature.

We propose to conduct a randomized prospective study comparing the efficacy of the loop drainage technique with the traditional incision and drainage technique of abscess management.

Patients presenting to the main or urgent care areas of the Emergency Department at Boston Medical Center for treatment of an abscess will be considered for enrollment as potential subjects. After the treating clinician identifies the patient as an appropriate subject, a Research Associate (RA) will approach the patient and obtain written informed consent to enroll in the study. The subject will then be randomized to the management arm of either loop drainage or traditional I\&D. The clinician will fill out a data sheet describing the abscess characteristics, and then perform either loop drainage or incision and drainage, depending on randomization and the subject will fill out a satisfaction survey. Fourteen days after initial visit, subjects will return for follow-up. The subject will fill out a satisfaction survey, and a study investigator blinded to the treatment group will assess the subject for abscess resolution, cosmetic outcome, number of follow-up visits, and complications.

The study investigators will then compare outcomes between the two study groups.

Conditions

  • Cutaneous Abscess

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Incision and Drainage with packing (wick) placement

PROCEDURE

Abscess drainage with loop placement

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Boston Medical Center

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Elissa Schechter-Perkins, MD, MPH · Boston Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
20 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2013-08-31
Primary Completion
2017-03-31
Completion
2017-03-09

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 NCT01897675 on ClinicalTrials.gov