Keywords
sodium hypochlorite, hypochlorous acid, superoxidized, efficacy, wound healing
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Antiseptic and antibacterial solutions are increasingly used in the treatment of various types of wounds. The successful stabilization of wounds using a combination Sodium Hypochlorite/Hypochlorous acid (NaOCl/HOCl) or superoxidized solution (SOS) has been reported, serving as an effective solution without irritating mammal cells and without posing a carcinogenic hazard. Presently, no systematic review or meta-analysis is available that compares the effectiveness of these antiseptic solutions. The present study aims to investigate the role of NaOCl/HOCl in the treatment of wounds.
The systematic review with extended to network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted using NaOCl/HOCl, povidone-iodine, octenidine dihydrochloride, polyhexamethylene biguanide, alcohol, and silver compared with normal saline. The primary outcome was wound healing. Using surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA), the direct and indirect comparisons were conducted with the probability of selecting the best treatment.
A total of 507 studies were identified from PUBMED and SCOPUS databases, and 64 articles were duplicates. Among 29 studies included, 22 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 7 cohort studies met our inclusion criteria. NaOCl/HOCl had a higher chance of wound healing 1.07-1.30 times compared with all the regimens. NaOCl/HOCl has the probability of providing the best treatment, followed by silver and octenidine with SUCRAs of 36.9, 23.1, and 21.8, respectively.
NaOCl/HOCl ranks first and proves to have the highest efficacy, followed by silver, octenidine, and PHMB for treatment.
sodium hypochlorite, hypochlorous acid, superoxidized, efficacy, wound healing
Antiseptic and antibacterial solutions are increasingly being used for the treatment of traumatic wounds, chronic wounds, and infected wounds.1,2 Many of these agents are already launched in the market, and agents such as alcohols, phenols, iodine, and chlorine have been used for over 100 years. While most of these active agents demonstrate broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, knowledge is lacking about their comparison and mode of action i.e., toxicity and effectiveness. Thus, a nontoxic and highly disinfected agent is crucial in the wound care setting.
Successful stabilization of the combination Sodium Hypochlorite/Hypochlorous acid (NaOCl/HOCl) or super oxidized solution (SOS) has been reported as an effective solution in the treatment of traumatic wounds, chronic wounds, infected wounds, and prevention of surgical site infection.3,4 NaOCl/HOCl provided an ecologically relevant novel agent because aqueous sodium chloride solution was electrochemically converted during its production. The activated solution is also called electrolyzed water.5 The current concentration for NaOCl and HOCl amounts is 0.004% each and < 0.06% for NaOCl being a mono-substance of a physiological bactericidal mechanism.6 Typically, NaOCl/HOCl and NaOCl are highly effective against vegetative bacteria, bacterial spores, aspergilli, cryptosporidia oocysts, and coated viruses, but they are not or barely irritating on mammal cells. Moreover, no evidence of cytotoxicity is found, and no evidence that poses a carcinogenic hazard is found.2
No systematic review or meta-analysis is available that compares the effectiveness of these antiseptic solutions. The present study aims to investigate the role of NaOCl/HOCl when compared with other treatment regimens for traumatic wounds, chronic wounds, and infected wounds.
The systematic review and meta-analysis (SR/MA), an extension of network meta-analysis (NMA), was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines7 and PROSPERO number: CRD42019120532.
The studies were included according to the PICO model as follows:
P: wound infection, chronic wound, surgical site infection, diabetic wound, diabetic foot ulcer, diabetic foot infection, and venous ulcer
I and C: NaOCl/HOCl, povidone-iodine (PVI), octenidine dihydrochloride, polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), taurolidine, chlorhexidine, alcohol, silver, and normal saline (NSS)
O: wound healing, and wound size-reduction
A comprehensive literature search was conducted in MEDLINE and SCOPUS from their inception to March 2021, limited to literature focusing on comparative studies, written in English, and solely on humans (see supplement Table s1 [Extended Data]63).
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or cohort studies published in English that met the following criteria were selected: 1) Studies in adult patients who were diagnosed as wound infection, chronic wound, surgical site infection, diabetic wound, diabetic foot ulcer, diabetic foot infection, and venous ulcer. 2) Studies that compared the effects of any pair of interventions including NaOCl/HOCl, PVI, octenidine dihydrochloride, PHMB, taurolidine, chlorhexidine, alcohol, silver, and NSS. 3) Studies that reported at least one of the following outcomes of interest: wound healing and wound size reduction.
Two reviewers were independently selected to screen titles and abstracts. If there was any disagreement, the third author resolved the disagreement by consensus.
Interventions were NaOCl/HOCl, PVI, octenidine dihydrochloride, PHMB, taurolidine, chlorhexidine, alcohol, and silver. The patients with active wounds were treated with active wound care solution daily. NSS was the standard comparator. The patients were treated daily with saline solution.8
Primary outcomes of interest were the effectiveness of treatment or success of treatment, defined as wound healing. Wound size reduction was defined as the percentage decrease in wound surface area, measured by a wound measurement computer software or through manual calculation. The calculation was carried out by multiplying the longest length by the widest width (length × width = cm2) of each visit in comparison with baseline visit.9 Category of wounds was defined as the stages of wounds and shift from high grade of the wound to the low grade of the wound of each treatment, considered as downgrading wound.10 Reinfections were defined as the presence of local or systemic clinical signs of infection, which was confirmed by cultural examination.11
Secondary outcomes were adverse events including disturbance of wound healing, defined as wound dehiscence, surgical wound dehiscence, or wound hernia.12 No functional impairment of liver, kidney, other organs, or other allergic reactions was observed.13
Two reviewers (CW and NP) independently selected studies by screening titles, abstracts, and the full texts. The studies characteristics extracted, including study design, types of intervention, types of wounds, and types of outcomes. Patient characteristics extracted were the number of subjects, mean age, sex, and follow-up times (weeks). The outcomes of extraction (wound healing and adverse event) were some population, number of events, and number of no events. In addition, the quality of cohort studies was assessed based on ROBINS-I tool14 of study attrition, representativeness of study population, outcome measure, prognostic factor measurement, statistical analysis, and presentation. For the RCTs study, the assessment was done using established tools recommended by the Cochrane library.15
Direct meta-analysis (DMA)
The risk ratio (RR) was estimated for dichotomous outcomes (wound healing and adverse event). The pooled effect sizes of RR were pooled across studies. The heterogeneity was checked using Cochrane’s Q test and I2 statistics. If appropriate, the model of the random-effects model or a fixed-effects was used. A meta-regression was used to explore sources of heterogeneity with sub-group analysis. Publication bias was assessed using a funnel plot and Egger test.
Network meta-analysis
The two-stage technique was performed to estimate the relative treatment effects (ln (RR)). A binary regression was used to estimate treatment effects and the variance-covariance for individual studies. Then, multivariate with random-effect meta-analysis with consistency model was used for treatment effects across the studies. The final step, which was mixed relative treatment comparisons, was estimated.
The consistency of the results was assessed using a design-by-treatment interaction inconsistency model based on a global Chi-square to explore agreement between direct and indirect comparisons. The probability of being the best treatment was assessed using surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA). The publication bias was explored using an adjusted funnel plot.
Sub-group analyses were performed according to types of wound and types of study design. All analyses were performed using STATA 16.64 P-value less than 0.05 was set as the threshold for statistical significance, except for heterogeneity where P < 0.1 was used.
A total of 507 studies were identified from PUBMED and SCOPUS databases, and 64 articles were duplicates. Among 29 studies,8–13,16–38 included, 22 RCTs,8–12,16–31,38 and 7 cohort studies,13,32–37 met our inclusion criteria, refer to Figure 1.
Table 1 presented the characteristics of the 29 studies,8–13,16–38 In the 22 RCTs,8–12,16–31,38 and 7 cohort studies,13,32–37 the overall mean age was from 16.8 to 62.0, and percentages of male were from 3.2 to 94.0. Most of them had diabetic mellitus foot ulcer and followed by surgical wound, trauma, and chronic wound.
Most RCTs compared NaOCl/HOCl vs NSS10,12,17,21,30,38 and NaOCl/HOCl vs PVI,11,19,22,26,27 followed by PHMB vs NSS,8,9,16 silver vs PVI,20,23 and others,18,24,25,28,29,31 Table 1 presented the cohort studies that compared NaOCl/HOCl with PVI,32–36 and NaOCl/HOCl,13,37 with others.
Risk of bias assessments was performed, see supplement Figure s1a [Extended Data].63 Among the 22 RCTs, all studies were considered at high risk of bias for allocation concealment (selection bias), blinding of participants, blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias), and low risk of bias of random sequence generation. Nearly 68% to 90% of RCTs were at low risk of bias for selective reporting (reporting bias) and incomplete outcome data (attrition bias). All RCTs were at high risk of bias because the participants who received the treatment could be not blinded. Seven cohort studies were of low risk of bias for the study population, and most of them had a low risk of bias for study attrition and outcome measures. About three studies were of low risk of bias for prognostic factor measurement, statistical analysis, and presentation. However, all the studies suggested a high risk of bias for confounding factors. However, the overall results are considered high risk of bias, see supplement Figure s1b [Extended Data].63
DMA was conducted using pooling effects of RCTs (N = 6),10,12,17,21,30,38 between NaOCl/HOCl and NSS on healing rate, in which pooled RRs was 1.38 (95%CI: 1.14, 1.68) with statistically significant, see supplement Figure s2a and 2b [Extended Data].63
Considering NaOCl/HOCl vs PVI of 4 RCTs,11,19,22,26 the pooled RR was 1.10 (95%CI: 0.96, 1.25), but the pooled RRs of 4 cohorts,32,34–36 was 1.36 (95%CI: 1.11, 1.67) with statistically significant, see supplement Figure s3a and s3b [Extended Data].63
Among PHMB vs NSS, only 4 RCTs,8,9,16,18 were reported; the pooled RR was 1.10 (95%CI: 0.96, 1.27) with no statistically significant, see supplement Figure s4a and s4b [Extended Data].63
The adverse event was estimated based on the results of included RCTs, suggesting a lower adverse event rate in NaOCl/HOCl, 0.74 (95%CI: 0.19, 2.78) than NSS, with no statistically significant, see supplement Figure s5 [Extended Data].63 In comparison, the adverse events between NaOCl/HOCl and PVI were higher of about 1.43 (95%CI: 1.10, 1.88) with statistical significance; whereas the results of cohort studies showed a lower rate with pooled RRs of 0.28 (95%CI: 0.11, 0.69), with statistically significant, see supplement Figure s6 [Extended Data].63 The PHMB also suggested a lower adverse event rate of about 0.69 (95%CI: 0.14, 3.44) than NSS with no statistical significance, see supplement Figure s7 [Extended Data].63
NMA was performed using data from 22 RCTs,8–12,16–31,38 and 2,885 patients, see Figure 2. The treatment comparisons were pooled, revealing NaOCl/HOCl to have the higher success of healing rate 1.30 times of (RR; 1.30 (95%CI: 1.10, 1.54)) than NSS with statistically significant, followed by silver, PHMB, PVI, and octenidine with higher success rate than NSS excepted alcohol with pooled RRs of 1.21 (95%CI: 0.85,1.73), 1.14 (95%CI: 0.94,1.39), 1.10 (95%CI: 0.91,1.33), and 1.03 (95%CI: 0.52,2.05), respectively. Although these were not significant, see Table 2. NaOCl/HOCl had the probability of being the best treatment, followed by silver, octenidine, and PHMB with SUCRAs of 36.9, 23.1, 21.8, and 4.8 respectively, compared with all the regimens, see Table 2. The adjusted funnel plot showed symmetry, see Figure 3.
NaOCl/HOCl and PVI comparison with NSS for wound healing rate were 1.47 (95%CI: 1.01, 2.15) and 0.59 (95%CI: 0.22, 1.56), respectively. NaOCl/HOCl had the probability of being the best treatment in the diabetic wound. A comparison was also conducted among NaOCl/HOCl, PHMB, Alcohol, and PVI for surgical wound with NSS, with the results of 1.32 (95%CI: 1.05, 1.67), 1.13 (95%CI: 0.70, 1.83), 1.12 (95%CI: 0.59, 2.12), and 1.23 (95%CI: 0.91, 1.67), respectively. NaOCl/HOCl offered the best treatment for the surgical wound, see Table 3. No estimation of NaOCl/HOCl comparison was observed among chronic wound and trauma wound, but the best treatment was PHMB (1.13 (95%CI: 0.91, 1.42)) with SUCRAs of 43.30, followed by Silver (1.13 (95%CI: 0.75, 1.71)), and PVI (0.98 (95%CI: 0.92, 1.03)) in a chronic wound. In addition, PHMB was suggested to be the best treatment in trauma wound with pooled RRs of 1.15 (95%CI: 0.81, 1.64), followed by silver (1.08 (95%CI: 0.00, 8.38)), octenidine (1.03 (95%CI: 0.49, 2.17)), and PVI (0.92 (95%CI: 0.00, 7.16)), see Table 3.
No estimation was done for cohort studies,13,32–37 owing to their sparse information for indirect comparison.
In this study, NaOCl/HOCl offered a higher rate of wound healing from 1.07 to 1.30 compared to all the regimens. The probability of NaOCl/HOCl offering the best treatment was highest, followed by silver, octenidine, and PHMB with SUCRAs of 36.9, 23.1, 21.8, and 4.8, respectively. Regarding direct and indirect comparison for types of wound, NaOCl/HOCl is recommended for diabetic and surgical wounds compared with NSS. For many years, NaOCl/HOCl has been used as an irrigation solution for cleansing and moisturizing acute, chronic, contaminated wounds, and for first and second-degree burns.39 HOCl offers safe preservation and prevents the proliferation of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Vancomycin-resistant enterococci, viruses, fungi, and spores.40 In commercial products, Granudacyn, Microcyn, and Dermacyn combined of NaOCl/HOCl for wound healing,41–43
HOCl may be compared to sodium hypochlorite, as they are used as a bleaching agent.40 However, they differ since HOCl is a weak acid and can be dissolved into hydrogen and hypochlorite ions (OCl-). Moreover, HOCl will convert completely to hypochlorite when pH is greater than 8.59. The antibacterial property of HOCl is much higher than that of OCl.40,44 Thus, the pH of the wound area is an important factor when using HOCl.
HOCl offered many mechanisms of producing positive effects for all phases of wound healing as it increases oxygenation that helps to break down biofilm at wound sites,45,46 The important HOCl mechanism is its ability to damage the integrity and permeability of the bacteria cell membrane. Considering HOCl toxicity, some evidence suggested that the cytotoxicity of oxidative stress of HOCl was significantly lower in human dermal fibroblast compared to hydrogen peroxide. The HOCL also failed to induce genotoxicity with an approved broad spectrum of effective agent,46–50
NaOCl/HOCl solution is recommended for wound irrigation, rinsing, and cleansing of moderately infected wounds and is effective in preventing wound infections. NSS removes bacteria through the mechanical effect of rinsing and does not have any antibacterial properties.
Moreover, PVI has the lowest efficacy when compared with overall treatment regimens, with a 10% higher success rate compared with NSS. PVI can kill bacteria51; it also inhibits fibroblast growth.52 One study compared the effectiveness of PVI with HOCl in terms of wound healing and found that PVI significantly delayed wound healing, while HOCl did not.
A wide range of wound dressings that contain elemental silver or a silver releasing compound has been used for hundreds of years in wound care.53 They are easier to apply, may facilitate autolytic debridement, maintain a moist wound environment, and need less frequent dressing changes. Although silver dressings have been used extensively, some controversy still exists, regarding their wound healing rates and safety. Our study found silver dressings to be second-ranked for wound treatment.
Octenidine offered superior antiseptic efficacy in the quantitative suspension test without protein load compared with PVI, and PHMB.54 It is available in a solution and a gel. The antiseptic activity of the rinse and the gel are well tolerated and suitable for wound cleansing,55–57 In this study, its success rate is ranked third for wound treatment.
PHMB has been recommended as a therapeutic option for acute traumatic wounds, chronic ulcers, and second-degree burns due to its cost-effectiveness and analgesic effect.58 PHMB is available as a solution, hydrogel, and in wound dressings. It can also be used for wound irrigation and required an annotation on the safety of carcinogenic and anaphylactic reaction,59,60 PHMB is recommended to replace chlorhexidine and PVI, in case of acute bite wounds. The reasons for this are the risk of anaphylactic reactions.61 In this study, its success is ranked fourth for wound treatment.
A few published studies explored hospital stay and the cost of treatment. However, inconsistent results are found in two RCTs,27,30 One study30 concluded that NaOCl/HOCl had a shorter hospital stay of 8.2-12.3 days compared with PVI. Another study27 suggested no difference in hospital stay when using NaOCl/HOCl and NSS. Moreover, only one study31 compared the cost of treatment between PHMB and silver, with no statistically significant difference, but no information was found on other treatments.
Our study had some strengths. It is the first meta-analysis that has assessed the efficacy of irrigation solutions in terms of healing all types of wounds. The NMA is also covered, which identifies individual irrigation as the best compared with NSS.
Our evidence suggests that NaOCl/HOCl has the highest efficacy of wound healing. NaOCl/HOCl was ranked first followed by silver, octenidine, and PHMB for treatment success. Evidence about benefits and adverse events for using these agents in wound management should be provided to patients to properly choose their optimal course of action with physicians. Further large-scale RCTs should be conducted along with the economic evaluations.
All authors included in the article contributed to the conception, design, and drafting of the article.
NP and CW developed the search strategy.
NP, CS, and CW screened studies for inclusion, extracted the data, and assessed the methodology of included studies.
NP: analyzed and interpreted the data.
NP: prepared the first draft of this paper and revised critical comments from CW, CS, JJ, PP, and CP.
All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
No underlying data are associated with this article.
- Zenodo: PRISMA_2020_checklist_hypochlorite.docx, The efficacy of combination of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCL)/hypochlorous acid (HOCL) in wound management: a systematic review and network meta-analysis, PRISMA_2020_checklist_hypochlorite.docx, DOI https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13841998. 62
- Zenodo: Supplement material file, The efficacy of combination of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCL)/hypochlorous acid (HOCL) in wound management: a systematic review and network meta-analysis, Supplementary materials file 20-02-24 NP.docx, DOI https://www.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13831391. 63
- Data are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY 4.0).
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Are the rationale for, and objectives of, the Systematic Review clearly stated?
Yes
Are sufficient details of the methods and analysis provided to allow replication by others?
Partly
Is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate?
Partly
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results presented in the review?
No
If this is a Living Systematic Review, is the ‘living’ method appropriate and is the search schedule clearly defined and justified? (‘Living Systematic Review’ or a variation of this term should be included in the title.)
Not applicable
References
1. Singer AJ: Healing Mechanisms in Cutaneous Wounds: Tipping the Balance.Tissue Eng Part B Rev. 2022; 28 (5): 1151-1167 PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full TextCompeting Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Reviewer Expertise: Skin. Epithelia, Mammalian wound healing, Tissue repair. Extracellular matrix. Cell migration
Are the rationale for, and objectives of, the Systematic Review clearly stated?
Yes
Are sufficient details of the methods and analysis provided to allow replication by others?
Yes
Is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate?
Yes
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results presented in the review?
Yes
If this is a Living Systematic Review, is the ‘living’ method appropriate and is the search schedule clearly defined and justified? (‘Living Systematic Review’ or a variation of this term should be included in the title.)
Yes
Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Reviewer Expertise: wound therapy
Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:
Invited Reviewers | ||
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1 | 2 | |
Version 1 21 Oct 24 |
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