Three‐dimensional shape‐conformation performances of wound dressings tested in a robotic sacral pressure ulcer phantom

Effective exudate retention by dressings requires close and intimate dressing‐wound contact, immediately and continuously after the dressing application. Any dressing‐wound spaces may allow for build‐up of non‐retained fluids, causing exudate pooling which forms a favourable environment for pathogen growth. Maceration may follow if the pooled exudates spread to peri‐wound skin. Dressings with a claimed 3D‐shape‐conformation technology are commercially available; however, their effectiveness in minimising dressing‐wound gaps has never been scientifically investigated. We present a novel bioengineering methodology for testing the effectiveness of such 3D‐shape‐conformation dressings, using our recently reported robotic phantom system of a sacral pressure ulcer. By means of 3D laser scanning and bespoke software, we reconstructed dressing shapes after simulated use and calculated the goodness‐of‐fit between each dressing (swelled to near‐saturation) and the corresponding wound geometry. Two dressing sizes (10 × 10 cm and 12.5 × 12.5 cm) and two wound depths (2.5 or 2 cm) were considered. All the tested dressings were far from reaching good contact with the (simulated) wounds: Approximately one‐third of the wound volume and nearly half of the wound surface were not in contact with the swelled dressings. Our present findings question whether 3D‐shape‐conformation dressings are effective, by revealing their swelling behaviour which was previously unknown.