(WHS-P66) Laboratory Testing of 4 Sacral Dressings with Physiological Loads Reveals Differences in Strain Relief
Friday, May 17, 2024
7:30 AM – 5:00 PM East Coast USA Time
Purpose: To determine if there are differences in strain relief in sacral dressings under physiological loads.
Background: Patients who must remain prone for long periods end up placing a high burden on the skin of the sacrum. A class of border dressings has been in use to mitigate the lateral strains on the sacrum while the patient shifts while the sacrum is under load. There a several “substantially equivalent” devices on the market, but their relative performance in strain mitigation is unknown.
Methods: A custom digital image correlation system with a bead-loaded silicone sheet was used to monitor the strains in the sheet under physiological loads (Mimura et al. 2009 WRR., 155 mmHg). A stepper motor was used to apply 216 N of external shear force in 0.625-mm steps for 40 steps. The 4 dressings were compared to no treatment in triplicate. An initial measurement of the maximum gross lateral strain was quantified in FIJI and compared by one-way ANOVA (a = 0.05) followed by a pairwise-Tukey HSD post-hoc test.
Results: The mean of the dressings maximum strains were 0.0162, 0.0231, 0.0285, & 0.0267 (nil = 0.1206). The ANOVA revealed very significant differences (p = 1.09 x 10^-13). All dressings were very substantially better than Nil (p < 0.00009). The best performing dressing was better that all the rest (p < 0.0131). The second best was better than the remaining 2 (p < 0.049).
Conclusions: We have found a means to compare regulatorily similar sacral dressings under physiological loads and find statistically significant differences in strain relief. Additional work continues to identify the pressure load at which performance among the dressings begins to differ.