Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) announced an advertisement for the sale of dressings for healing wounds in poor condition. The problem is that they may contain tears in the main bag which usually serves as a guarantee of their sterility. Because they are non-sterile, they can cause infections in the wounds being treated, so they should not be used under any circumstances.
The manufacturer of these bandages is English. Advanced Medical Solutions (AMS). It was this company that reported this incident to AEMPS, although two other companies distribute its products in Spain: Solventum (formerly 3M) and Coloplast.
A notice has been sent to all potential distributors, from pharmacies to medical institutions, to stop supplying these dressings. But a notice has also been issued for patients who may already have them at home. If this is your case, here’s what you need to know about it.
Affected bandages
These types of wound healing dressings are usually wrapped in double plastic: primary packaging and secondary packaging. This ensures its sterility, necessary for closing open wounds.
In this case it turns out that the main package contains polyethylene burns and breakswhich were created during packaging. Therefore they should not be used.
This is not one product. The dressings affected by these tears are:
- Silvercel hydroalginate and non-adhesive Silvercel
- Tegaderm Alginate
- ActivHeal Alginate, ActivHeal Aqua Fiber, ActivHeal Non-Adhesive Foam, ActivHeal Non-Adhesive Tracheostomy, ActivHeal PHMB Non-Adhesive Foam, ActivHeal PHMB Non-Adhesive Foam, ActivHeal Raponicel Ultra
- Biatain Alginate
- Hyalo 4 High gelling fiber
- Kalcikar reinforced alginate
- Reinforced aqua fiber
- Nurocel Extra
- Maxorb Extra
What should patients do?
Patients who already have some of the dressings on the list at home are advised to stop using them and return them to the pharmacy in which they were purchased. If they were issued by your health center, they should also be taken to obtain other dressings not from the affected lots.
As for the wounds, They should continue to be treated in the same way.but with special attention to possible symptoms of infection. This will happen in the worst case, but this is not a fact, so there should be no panic.
In any case, although it has nothing to do with this health warning, if you ever notice rips in the packaging of your dressings, throw them away immediately. Products of this type must be completely sterile, so even the slightest rupture can be dangerous.
Source: Hiper Textual
