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Addition of chitosan may improve the treatment efficacy of triple bandage and compression in the treatment of venous leg ulcers.

INTRODUCTION
venous leg ulcers are an important problem in public health due to their high prevalence and treatment cost. The gold standard therapy is the compression bandage. Addition of different substances to the compression therapy in order to accelerate ulcer healing has been attempted but none of them has yielded optimal results.


OBJECTIVE
to describe the treatment efficacy of venous leg ulcers treated with triple compression bandage and chitosan gel.


METHODS
a longitudinal and descriptive study was conducted in a sample of 16 patients with 26 venous leg ulcers that were treated with triple compression bandage plus a chitosan gel every seven days during nine weeks. Ulcer surface was measured during each treatment step.


RESULTS
at the end of the treatment period, 89 percent reduction of the ulcer area was found when compared to the initial area at the beginning of the study. This value represents a reduction rate of 1.8 cm2/week.


DISCUSSION
the results obtained in ulcer healing were higher than those previously reported when the compression bandage treatment of venous leg ulcers was performed alone. The observed difference might be due to the effect of the chitosan gel.