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

Abstract

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.