In 2005 Derek had a Pilonidal Cyst removed, which was much more extensive than expected. After the surgery he had a wound vac to help heal the wound, which didn’t help and he still had a pretty large open wound. About a year later he had another surgery on the wound site to try to get it to close, but that was unable to help. At one point, we found a Doctor and Hospital in Arkansas that was doing PRP wound treatments. Derek went there where they debrided the wound, applied the PRP and sealed the wound for 1 week. When the bandage was removed the wound had healed, however several months later it opened again. Unfortunately the tissue wasn’t strong enough to stay in place; and since that time Derek’s wound has been open with seepage and occasional reinfections. In the years following, we had had numerous doctors tell us that there was nothing that they could do to heal the wound. In our home treatments, we have used Silvasorb and other topical ointments to help healing, but they do nothing other than reduce the seepage for a short period of time. This obviously affects his daily life as in his activities, how he sits down, to seepage through his clothes and some pain.
We know you have been doing a lot of research on wound therapy, is this hydrogel looking promising in the near future for Derek’s type of wound? Or any other treatments available?
Response from: Professor Tatiana Segura
Steve, thank you for sharing Derek's story. It is very crazy to me that we still have such a hard time closing up skin wounds. But it is true, some wounds just do not heal well or at all. For skin, our technology is much closer to the clinic. We have licensed our MAP hydrogel to Tempo Therapeutics in San Diego, and they are getting ready for FDA approval. Please keep checking our website and their website for information on a possible in-patient trial. We are continuing to improve the material as well to improve the strength of the tissue that gets deposited.