Conditions: Diabetic Foot Ulcer
Keywords: Diabetic Foot Ulcer
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 70
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the gentamicin-collagen sponge when combined with standard of daily wound care is safe and effective in treating mildly infected skin ulcers compared to treatment with an oral antibiotic (levofloxacin) and standard daily wound care.

Detailed description:
Infected skin ulcers in patients with diabetes can be very debilitating because they are difficult to heal. Diabetic ulcers are responsible for frequent health care visits, and are a major predictor of amputation. Diabetic ulcers can be caused by a patient's inability to sense pain or warmth as well as peripheral vascular disease, which causes diminished blood flow to the foot. Early aggressive treatment is necessary to treat infection and prevent the need for amputation.

Gentamicin is an antibiotic that is effective in treating certain kinds of infection. Collagen is a protein that is found in all mammals. The gentamicin-collagen sponge is a thin flat sponge made out of collagen that comes from cow tendons and containing gentamicin. When applied to an open ulcer, the collagen breaks down and the gentamicin is released into the ulcer, but very little is absorbed into the blood stream. The high levels of gentamicin in the open infected ulcer may help treat the infection.

In this study, all subjects will be given the necessary supplies and taught how to take care of their foot ulcer. Subjects who are randomly assigned to the gentamicin-collagen sponge treatment group will place a gentamicin-collagen sponge on their ulcer during daily wound care. Subjects who are randomly assigned to the oral levofloxacin treatment group will also perform daily wound care, but they will not be given the gentamicin-collagen sponge. Instead they will be given the antibiotic, levofloxacin to take by mouth during the treatment period.

Arms:
arm 1: Daily topical gentamicin sponge and standard daily wound care arm 2: Daily oral levofloxacin 750 mg and standard daily wound care

Interventions: intervention 1: gentamicin-collagen sponge intervention 2: Levofloxacin
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Inserted daily into open ulcer intervention 2: 750mg oral levofloxacin daily

Protocol document: