Dr. Trumpatori, Chief of Surgery at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital of the Carolinas, was waiting for the right clinical conditions to use JumpStart antimicrobial wound dressing which generates microcurrents to support the natural healing process. That situation came along when an 11-month-old chocolate lab named Coco was hit by a golf cart and fractured all 4 metatarsal bones on the right side. Find out how Dr. Trumpatori treated Coco using JumpStart wound dressing and how the dog is doing today.
Q: How did you treat Coco initially?
A: “She had surgery right away. Many fractures like this case typically lead to internal fixation as opposed to splinting or coaptation. I placed intramedullary pins and cross pins in 3 of 4 metatarsals. I placed her in a splint and she spent the night at the clinic, then went home.”
Q: When did you realize there was a problem with the wound at the surgical site?
A: “I noticed she had sustained some form of vascular injury and/or disruption of the blood flow and the entire foot was swollen. By day 8, Coco developed a 5 cm area of non-viable skin over the dorsum of her tarsus. Initially, I put leeches on her foot to stimulate blood flow and remove some of the venous congestion but that didn’t work. Eventually, that part of the skin declared itself a little further and needed to be removed. I excised about a 5 cm area of skin over the dorsum which left her fracture sites exposed—the tissue was in pretty bad shape. So, I tried a wound vac for several days with bandage changes in between and saw minimal improvement of the tissue. Then I tried some other dressings but her fracture sites started to break down. I took her back to surgery and plated her digits but she still had exposed fractures and implants. That’s when I decided to try JumpStart wound dressing.”
Q: What did you notice after you started using JumpStart wound dressing?
A: “At every bandage change (about every 5 days), the wound started to contract and epithelialize simultaneously. The application of JumpStart wound dressing appeared to coincide with a remarkable reduction in wound size over a short period of time. The wound just kept getting dramatically smaller. With each bandage change, the wound was about half the size.”
Q: You used JumpStart wound dressing on Coco for about 2 months and recently saw her for a recheck. How’s she doing now?
A: “She’s wearing an orthotic now but is doing well and is happy. I’ve been using JumpStart wound dressing on more patients recently and have seen significant improvements almost immediately.”
If you want to know more about how JumpStart wound dressing works, click here.
