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Medical Mythology, Misconceptions, and Misinformation: Does Iodine Impede Wound Healing?
Abstract
Introduction. PI has been shown to be effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria and to be cytotoxic to a variety of cell types. Such findings led to the widespread belief that PI interferes with wound healing. Objective. This article reviews laboratory studies, animal wound studies, and clinical studies that examine the efficacy and safety of iodine-based wound products in wound healing. Methods. The authors searched PubMed and Scopus databases without time restrictions, and 62 articles were selected for complete evaluation. Fourteen RCTs and 5 comparative studies that evaluated PI and 15 RCTs that evaluated CI were included. Results. In 63% (n = 12) of the PI studies, there was no difference between PI and controls and in 5% (n = 1) PI performed significantly better than the comparator. In 31% (n = 6), outcomes were better with controls than with PI. In the RCTs on CI, 64% (n = 9) of the studies found no difference between CI and controls. Thirty-five percent (n = 5) showed significantly positive influence of CI compared with controls. Conclusions. Both CI and PI appear to be safe, with no evidence that these products impede wound healing, are associated with more infections, or require more amputations compared with other modalities. PI can effectively be used for short periods of time, and CI is an effective wound care modality for chronic wounds.
Abbreviations
CI, cadexomer iodine; DFU, diabetic foot ulcer; PI, povidone-iodine; PU, pressure ulcer; RCT, randomized controlled trial; SOC, standard of care; VLU, venous leg ulcer.
Introduction
Iodine is an antiseptic that has been used in various forms for more than 150 years.1 Early preparations caused local pain and tissue irritation.2 To avoid these unwanted side effects, iodine carriers (iodophors) were created.1 In iodophors, iodine is carried in a detergent that acts as a reservoir for iodine. Four types of such carriers are polyoxymer iodophors, cationic surfactant iodophors, nonionic surfactant iodophors, and polyvinyl-pyrrolidone iodophors (also known as PI).1
PI is the most common form of iodine used in clinical practice and has been available since 1955.2 It is chemically bound as triiodide and is available as a solution, aerosol spray, ointment cream, and foam dressing.1 The most common commercially available form of PI is 10% solution in water, yielding 1% available iodine (Betadine; Atlantis Consumer Healthcare, Inc).2,3
Another commonly used form of iodine is CI, which was released in 1981.1 This preparation consists of cadexomer starch biodegradable spherical hydrophilic beads (size range, 100 µm–315 µm) mixed with 0.9% iodine of cadexomer starch, which incorporates 0.9% iodine.4 In contrast to PI, CI products are widely accepted because the iodine is more slowly released and is thought to be less cytotoxic.
The use of iodine to manage wounds is controversial. Many health care professionals have closely held beliefs that iodine damages wounds and impedes wound healing, but they often do not know the foundation of or evidence for this belief. This medical mythology affects clinical behavior. The goal of the current study was to review laboratory studies, animal wound results, and clinical studies on the efficacy and safety of iodine-based wound products in wound healing, and to determine if clinical evidence demonstrates that CI or PI impedes wound healing.
Methods
The authors searched PubMed and Scopus databases without time restrictions, using the following search terms: “iodine,” “betadine,” “cadexomer iodine,” “Iodosorb,” “povidone iodine,” “diabetic foot ulcer,” “venous leg ulcer,” “wounds,” and “randomized clinical trial.” The search included human and animal studies. A total of 15 146 articles were identified. The authors reviewed abstracts for eligible studies. Retrospective studies, articles for which the authors could not access the data in its entirety, and articles that did not evaluate PUs, DFUs, and venous stasis ulcers or surgical wounds were excluded. A total of 62 articles were identified for complete evaluation. Those studies were then divided into in vitro studies, animal studies, human studies, and RCTs of PI and CI. The authors identified 14 RCTs and 5 comparative studies that evaluated PI and 14 RCTs that evaluated CI.
Results
In 63% (n = 12) of the PI studies, there was no difference between PI and controls; in 5% (n = 1), PI performed significantly better than the comparator. In 31% (n = 6), outcomes were better with controls than with PI. In the RCTs on CI, 64% (n = 9) of the studies found no difference between CI and controls. Thirty-five percent (n = 5) showed significantly positive influence of CI compared with controls.
Many of the perceptions about the effectiveness or problems with iodine seem to be based on in vitro research. The good and bad of PI centers around the bactericidal effects balanced by concerns of cytotoxicity to specific cell lines associated with wound healing. Iodine has well-established broad-spectrum bactericidal activity. PI has been shown to be effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, S aureus, Escherichia coli, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus.5-12 There are similar data to suggest that CI is effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including streptococci, enterococci, Enterobacteriaceae such as Proteus and Klebsiella species, P aeruginosa, S aureus, and methicillin-resistant S aureus.4,13,14
However, information from in vitro studies raised concerns about PI cytotoxicity. This is the reason some clinicians do not use iodine-based products. To the authors’ knowledge, the earliest study that reported cell damage from PI is a bench study from 1947 by Farkas,15 which evaluated the toxicity of bromine and iodine on human leukocytes and their effect on phagocytosis. Farkas15 reported that iodine appeared more harmful to this process compared with bromine. Subsequent studies demonstrated that iodine had a detrimental effect on lymphocytes, granulocytes, monocytes, fibroblasts, and keratinocytes.15-20 For instance, Van den Broek et al17 investigated various concentrations of PI on granulocytes and monocytes. They found that the number of dead granulocytes and monocytes increased in concentrations greater than 0.005%. Tatnall et al21 found concentrations of PI greater than 0.004% to be 100% toxic to keratinocytes. Lineaweaver et al18 reported a significant decrease in fibroblast survival in cultures with concentrations of 0.025% sodium hypochlorite (0% fibroblast survival), 0.25% acetic acid (74% fibroblast survival), 0.05% PI (50% fibroblast survival), and 0.03% hydrogen peroxide (41% fibroblast survival). Fabreguette et al20 reinforced these findings by demonstrating that PI at therapeutic concentrations was cytotoxic to fibroblasts and keratinocytes. These cytotoxic effects on cells that are fundamental to wound healing may be the reason many clinicians believe wound healing is adversely affected by iodine.
In contrast, basic science evidence demonstrates that CI is not cytotoxic to cells; rather, it appears to have a positive effect on the cells involved in the wound healing process. This is attributed to the slower release of iodine. Both Zhou et al22 and Brustolin et al23 reported that CI was not cytotoxic to fibroblasts. In 1995, Schmidt et al24 demonstrated that CI modulated fibroblast proliferation and inhibited superoxide generation by macrophages. This finding was reinforced in 1997, when Moore et al25 demonstrated that CI modulates cytokine induction in human macrophages. While these bench studies revealed evidence for the cytotoxic effect of iodine on tissue in vitro, such findings do not directly correlate to clinical outcomes; evaluation of translational and clinical studies was required to answer this question.
Interestingly, the concerns raised regarding PI cytotoxicity do not appear to translate to impaired wound healing in animal models or in human studies. Several animal studies do not support the hypothesis that PI impairs wound healing. Niedner26 reported that concentrations of up to 10% PI did not inhibit granulation tissue formation or the epithelialization process, as demonstrated in animal studies on beagles, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs. These findings were supported by an earlier study by Gruber et al27 that investigated 3% hydrogen peroxide, 10% PI, and 0.25% acetic acid, with saline as a control. That study found no significant difference in the mean healing times in split-thickness and full-thickness wounds in Sprague-Dawley rats treated with acetic acid (12.0 days and 18.6 days, respectively), PI (12.2 days and 19.2 days, respectively), and saline (12.4 days and 19.5 days, respectively). Split-thickness and full-thickness wounds treated with hydrogen peroxide healed significantly faster (10.2 days and 17.0 days, respectively) than controls (12.4 days and 19.5 days, respectively) (P < .05).27 Arai et al28 evaluated the rate of reepithelialization in a rabbit ear wound model in which wounds were managed with PI. When residual PI remained on the wound, reepithelialization was inhibited (P < .05). However, when the PI was removed, there was no difference between rinsed wounds and wounds treated with only a wet dressing. Kjolseth et al29 evaluated the effects of bacitracin, 0.25% sodium hypochlorite, 0.5% silver nitrate, 1% silver sulfadiazine, 8.5% mafenide acetate, and 10% PI on the rate of wound epithelialization and neovascularization in 99 circular full-thickness wounds in mouse ears. Epithelialization occurred significantly faster in wounds treated with silver sulfadiazine (mean ± standard deviation, 7.1 days ± 0.3) and mafenide acetate (7.3 days ± 0.3) than in wounds treated with PI (11.8 days ± 0.55), sodium hypochlorite (approximately 10.5 days), or bacitracin (approximately 10 days) (P < .01). Epithelialization was slowest in wounds treated with PI. However, wound neovascularization was fastest in wounds treated with PI and silver sulfadiazine (15.0 days ± 0.4 and 15.3 days ± 0.7, respectively), which was significantly faster than wounds treated with silver nitrate (18.4 days ± 0.56; P < .05), sodium hypochlorite (approximately 18 days), or bacitracin (approximately 17 days).29
Mulliken et al30 evaluated the tensile strength of wounds soaked in PI in a rat model. They evaluated incised dorsal wounds that were soaked in 1% PI or lactated Ringer solution for 15 minutes prior to closure. Tensile strength was evaluated at 1, 2, and 6 weeks. They found no significant difference in tensile strength between the incised wounds with PI compared with the control group at any time point.30 Cytotoxicity has been reported in in vitro studies; however, based on in vivo studies in animal wound models it is reasonable to conclude that, compared with other common wound treatments, PI does not affect neovascularization, wound healing, time to healing, or tensile strength.
Similarly, the available animal studies on CI demonstrate positive effects on healing and no deleterious effects. In 1998, Lamme et al31 published their findings on the use of CI ointment in full-thickness wounds in pigs. CI was compared with saline. Those authors did not observe any negative effects of CI ointment on the formation of granulation tissue, neovascularization, or wound contraction. This result was reinforced in 2012 by Brustolin et al,23 who evaluated the effects of CI, sodium chloride, and distilled water on 53 wounds in 36, 6-mm punch lesions in Wistar rats. There were no differences in the 3 treatment groups in terms of granulation tissue, neovascularization, or wound contraction. Although in vitro models were concerning for cytotoxic effects of PI, in vivo animal models have not shown convincing evidence of a negative effect on wound healing.
The current study also investigated whether the findings of animal wound studies translate to clinical outcomes in humans. Clinical studies were evaluated in 2 treatment groups. Human studies were divided into 2 groups: patients treated with PI solution, ointment, or foam (Table 132-50), and patients treated with CI (Table 251-64). The authors identified 14 RCTs and 5 comparative studies that examined the efficacy of PI on wound healing. In addition, the authors identified 14 RCTs that examined the efficacy of CI, with 2 on DFUs, 1 on PU, and 11 on VLUs. One study analyzed all 3 wound types.
Among studies that used PI products, 8 evaluated DFUs, 1 evaluated surgical wounds, 5 evaluated VLUs, 3 evaluated PUs, and 2 evaluated wounds of various etiologies. The majority of PI studies (63%, n = 12) demonstrated no difference between the comparator and PI. One study evaluating dextranomer versus PI showed PI performed significantly better than the comparator. Only 31% (n = 6) of the studies demonstrated a better result with SOC or a comparator. Table 132-50 highlights the outcomes of the PI studies. There are no animal or human studies that reported increased size or depth of wounds, or an increase in infections when PI was used. In most of the human studies included in the current study (63%), there was no significant difference in clinical outcomes between PI and the comparator. In 35% of the human studies, comparator treatment resulted in significantly more wounds healed or faster healing.
It is important to note that in many of these studies, PI served as the control group. For instance, Kajagar and Joshi32 compared negative pressure wound therapy with PI. Five studies of DFU compared PI with honey. Three of the studies demonstrated statistical difference in outcomes and the other 2 demonstrated no statistical difference. Parimala and Rani50 completed a comparative VLU study assessing the net wound healing score and they found there was no statistical difference between honey and PI (16.6 ± 3.3 and 18.2 ± 3.2, respectively; P > .05). Gulati et al49 in 2014 evaluated honey versus PI and demonstrated a significant improvement in the percent healed at 6 weeks (31.8% vs 0% PI; P < .01). Shukrimi et al40 also demonstrated no difference in time to healing between honey (14.4 days) and PI (15.4 days) (P > .05). In contrast, Ur-Rehman et al38 demonstrated a significantly greater percent wound area reduction at 15 days with honey compared with iodine (80.8% vs 54.6%; P < .001), and Yadav et al37 reported that patients treated with honey healed significantly faster than patients treated with PI (18 days and 28 days, respectively; P < .001).
Kajagar and Joshi32 compared negative pressure wound therapy with PI. As expected, the use of negative pressure wound therapy resulted in significantly greater mean wound area reduction (P = .029). Kaya et al42 reported that patients with PU managed with hydrogel had a significantly greater incidence of healed wounds compared with patients treated with PI (84% and 54%, respectively; P = .04). Imamura and Imura44 found no difference in the incidence of healed wounds at 8 weeks in patients treated with PI sugar paste compared with lysozyme ointment (21% [15/72] and 17% [12/69], respectively; P > .05). Fumal et al,45 Smith et al,46 and Kuznetsov et al48 found no difference in VLUs treated with PI and SOC or other interventions. The available evidence indicates that PI is a safe modality for wound management.
In RCTs of CI in wound management, the majority of studies (64% [n = 9]) found no significant difference between CI and comparator treatment. The remaining studies demonstrated positive effects of CI (35% [n = 5]). Further, a meta-analysis by Woo et al4 compared pooled RCT data and reported that wounds treated with CI were greater than 2 times more likely to heal compared with wounds treated with SOC (P < .0001). The authors of the current study identified 1 study that compared CI and PI. Gupta et al33 compared CI and PI in the management of wounds of various etiologies, including venous, arterial, diabetic, traumatic, and infected wounds. The wounds were evaluated every 2 days for 6 days. There was a significant reduction in mean wound area in both groups (CI, 189.4 cm2 ± 58.7 to 159.0 cm2 ± 58.4, and PI, 190.9 cm2 ± 76.3 to 174.2 cm2 ± 77.1; P < .05); however, there was no significant difference between the PI and CI groups. Gupta et al33 concluded that both CI and PI are safe in the management of wounds. Further, there are no animal or human studies that report increased size or depth of wounds, or an increase in infections when CI was used.
Discussion
Although in vitro studies of PI have raised concern for cytotoxicity, PI appears to be a safe modality. Both in vivo animal wound studies and human studies of acute and chronic wounds showed no evidence that iodine-containing products impede wound healing, result in more infections, or require more amputations. The question is whether the overall weight of the evidence of animal and human wound healing studies is convincing for the use of iodine-containing products. Often there is no translation from bench research to clinical practice, and there is an overreaction to either endorse or reject an approach that has no clinical evidence. The available evidence suggests that PI and CI are helpful in eradicating bacteria and reducing bioburden. Meta-analyses indicate that wounds treated with CI are twice as likely to heal as wounds treated with SOC.4 Although there is evidence that both PI and CI reduce bioburden, there is little evidence that either prevents wounds from becoming clinically infected.34,35 There was no difference in iodine-based treatments compared with SOC or other interventions in most of the studies analyzed in the current review.
In 31% of the PI studies included in this review, the comparator outperformed PI. In current clinical practice, PI tends to be reserved for short periods of time in wound management (eg, immediately postoperatively in a contaminated wound or in a wound complicated by surgical dehiscence). There were 9 CI studies (64%) that found no significant difference in patients treated with CI versus the comparator. The remaining studies demonstrated positive effects of CI (35% [n = 5]). The available evidence supports the use of CI in chronic wounds, often post-debridement in the management of chronic lower extremity ulcerations.
Limitations
This study has several limitations. The studies included are heterogenous in many ways that make accurate comparisons difficult. In addition, the studies use different operational definitions of success, such as wound healing, time to healing, percent wound area reduction, and rate of healing. The classic primary outcome in RCTs of ulcers is the proportion of wounds that heal in 12 to 16 weeks. This is the primary outcome in only 52.6% (n = 10) of the PI studies and in 78.6% (n = 11) of the CI studies included herein. In addition, many of the studies are small and do not have a power analysis or sample size justification. It is nearly impossible to show a significant difference in very small studies. The number of subjects in each treatment arm is less than or equal to 40 in 68.4% of the PI studies and 71.4% of the CI studies. The duration of most studies is variable. Most of the PI and CI studies (79% [n = 15] and 57% [n = 8], respectively) are less than or equal to 8 weeks’ duration. Finally, the etiology of wounds is variable and includes DFUs, VLUs, PUs, and surgical wounds. The CI studies are larger than the PI studies and have better outcomes. One outcome missing from many of the CI RCTs evaluated in the current study is infection as an adverse event.
One argument for using either PI or CI is that they kill broad-spectrum bacteria, which would also result in faster healing and fewer infections. It is not clear, however, if laboratory data on the bactericidal properties of PI and CI translate to fewer clinical infections and elimination of bioburden, with resulting improved wound healing. History suggests that such data do not translate. The authors of the current study identified only 2 studies that reported infection as an outcome in PI RCTs. In both cases, there was no difference in the incidence of infection between PI and the control.34,35 One misconception about products with reported antibacterial properties in the laboratory is that such data rarely translate to reduced infections in clinical practice and it is difficult to know if this is in fact the case with PI and CI.
Conclusions
Both CI and PI appear to be safe, and there is no evidence that these products impede wound healing or that they are associated with more infections or a need for more amputations compared with other wound healing strategies. PI can effectively be used for short periods of time, and CI is an effective wound care modality for chronic wounds.
Acknowledgments
Authors: Christopher Girgis, DPM; Mehmet A. Suludere, MD; P. Andrew Crisologo, DPM; and Lawrence A. Lavery, DPM, MPH
Affiliations: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Plastic Surgery, Dallas, TX
ORCID: Crisologo, 0000-0002-5367-9235;
Lavery, 0000-0002-7920-9952
Disclosure: The authors disclose no financial or other conflicts of interest.
Correspondence: Christopher Girgis, DPM; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Plastic Surgery, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd F4.310, Dallas, TX 75390; girgisdpm@gmail.com
Manuscript Accepted: August 21, 2023
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