Clinical Use of Non-Suture Silk-Containing Products: A Systematic Review

Aims: The purpose of this systematic review is to determine how various innovative non-suture silk and silk-containing products are being used in clinical practice, and compare patient outcomes following their use. Methods: A systematic review of PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane was completed. A qualitative synthesis of all included studies was then performed. Results: Our electronic search identified 868 silk-related publications, which yielded 32 studies for full-text review. After exclusion, nine studies from 2011 to 2018 were included for qualitative analysis. A total of 346 patients were included which consisted of 37 males and 309 females. The mean age range was between 18-79 years old. The follow-up among studies ranged between one to twenty-nine months. Three studies addressed the application of silk in wound dressings, one on the topical application of silk-derived products, one on silk-derived scaffold in breast reconstruction, and three on silk underwear as adjunct for the treatment of gynecological conditions. All studies showed good outcomes alone or in comparison to controls. Conclusion: This systematic review concludes that silk products' structural, immune, and wound-healing modulating properties are advantageous clinical assets. Nevertheless, more studies are needed to strengthen and establish the benefit of those products.

Automated summary

This systematic review investigates the clinical application and patient outcomes of various innovative non-suture silk and silk-containing products. A total of nine studies were included in the qualitative analysis, covering the use of silk in wound dressings, topical application, breast reconstruction, and treatment of gynecological conditions. The results demonstrate the advantageous clinical properties of silk products in terms of structure, immune response, and wound healing modulation.