The development of a topical estrogen patch including a biodegradable chitosan-based biopolymer (CB) to accelerate wound healing in the elderly patients is proposed. Delays in acute cutaneous wound healing lead to local infections, wound dehiscence, and a transition toward chronic, nonhealing wound. Recent clinical data have shown the benefit of using a topical estrogen transdermal patch to accelerate wound healing in elderly patients. One of the disadvantages of estrogen therapy is greater scar formation. Cutaneous scarring is a major clinical problem concerning functional impairment and restricted growth. Preliminary studies have shown increased fibroblast proliferation in the presence of CB. In addition, CB has been reported to reduce scar formation in vivo. In this Phase I feasibility study we propose: (1) to examine the rate and scarring potential of the topical estrogen/CB patch for wound healing in animal studies and (2) to confirm the animal data with preliminary human studies. The long-term goal of the proposed application is to develop an estrogen patch which accelerates the rate of repair as well as the quality of healing in the elderly.
A topical estrogen patch could be a viable, accelerated wound healing treatment in the elderly. In addition, the use of a chitosan-based biopolymer matrix showing reduced scar formation, together with the estrogen, is expected to provide a better alternative than current commercial transdermal estrogen patches for wound healing applications.
