Systematic review on Moist Exposed Burn Ointment (MEBO) versus conventional methods for management of parital thickness burn wounds

Sheryl E. Valencia, Romulo III R. Cabantac

Background: Maintenance of a moist wound environment facilitates the wound-healing process particularly in burn patients. Conventional therapy of burn injuries include application of 1% Silver Sulfadiazine or Aquacel Ag® sheets. Moist Exposed Burn Ointment (MEBO) is an alternative burn ointment which contains beta-sitosterol and berberine that promotes anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects. This study aims to review clinical trials comparing the use of MEBO versus conventional methods for burn wound management.

Methods: Relevant studies where searched through PubMed, Embase, Herdin, Clinicalkey, Clinicaltrial.gov, PIMEDICUS and Google Search Engine. Studies retrieved were reviewed by the authors focusing on the mean healing time as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included were pain assessment, wound infection and post-burn deformities.

Results: A total of 5 studies were included in the review. Mean healing time in days of superficial second degree burn in three studies ranges from 9.1 to 10.48 days for MEBO and 10.05 to 14.53 in conventional method. Two studies in the second degree burn in general showed a mean healing time of 17 to 12.4 for MEBO as compared to 10.5 to 20 days for the conventional method. One study comparing pain assessment showed treatment with MEBO have significantly decreased demand for pain relievers. Two studies showed no significant difference in wound infection, while one study showed increased infection rate among patients treated with MEBO compared to conventional treatment. The number of post-burn hand deformities was higher among patients treated with conventional therapy compared to those treated with MEBO in one study.

Conclusion: In terms of healing time, wound infection and patient comfort, MEBO may be superior over silver sulfadiazine regardless of burn location but comparable or may be inferior to Aquacel silver on facial burn. Demand for analgesia may be lesser on MEBO group than the conventional care. Hence, more randomized control studies are necessary to accurately evaluate MEBO and other burn wound care methods