Silicone Taping for the Improvement of Abdominal Donor Site Scars

NCT ID: NCT04506255

Last Updated: 2025-02-18

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

32 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-11-16

Study Completion Date

2026-12-31

Brief Summary

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This study will look at silicone tape compared to the current no dressing standard at the investigators institution, to determine if silicone tape provides a significant improvement in post-abdominoplasty scar appearance. Silicone tape will be added to half of the abdominoplasty incision of patients undergoing abdominally-based breast reconstruction procedures two weeks after their operation. They will be followed up and assessed at specific timepoints to determine whether the silicone improves scar outcomes in these patients.

Detailed Description

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This is a prospective, single center, masked, randomized self-controlled clinical human trial to evaluate the appearance of abdominal scars after autologous free-flap breast reconstruction following post-operative application of silicone tape to improve scar quality. Incisions from 32 adult subjects will act as their own control and will be randomized to have silicone tape applied to one half of their abdominoplasty incision and control treatment using the current standard of care at the investigators institution to the other half, which is no dressing after the initial two week post-op period. A participant size of 32 leaves room in case of participant loss to follow-up, ensuring data will be available for the required sample size of 28 (see statistical analysis section below). A random number sequence generator will be used to randomize which half of the patient's wound will receive the treatment.

Patients will be recruited from plastic surgery clinics at the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Plastic surgeons will be asked to participate and enroll their breast reconstruction patients, who will undergo a type of abdominoplasty as part of their reconstruction procedure.

Patients will undergo a de novo abdominoplasty procedure as part of a reconstructive breast surgery. Two weeks post-operatively, one side of the patient's abdominoplasty incision will be randomized to receive the silicone tape and the remaining half will be left to heal without any dressing application, which is the current standard at the investigators institution. Each patient will act as their own control. Patients will apply silicone tape on a daily basis, with each piece lasting 24 hours. Tape may be removed for showers and replied after drying. Total length of treatment will be two and a half months.

It is not possible to mask patients, as they will be responsible for ongoing application of the silicone tape. However, the staff surgeon will be masked. Patients will present to their first post-op visit at two weeks. After examination by the staff surgeon, the patient will be seen by the research coordinator who will provide the patient with their randomization treatment assignment. To ensure ongoing masking, at subsequent follow-up visits, patients will remove their dressings one day prior to their appointment with their surgeon. This will ensure no local reaction (i.e. redness after tape removal) that would compromise the masking of staff surgeons.

Patients will then follow up for scar assessment at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. Unless otherwise required, scar assessments will then be performed at each visit by both the patient and the surgeon using validated objective and subjective scar measures. Patients will also meet with the research coordinator at each follow up visit, to address any questions or concerns about the study and treatment.

The Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (PSAS \& OSAS) system will be used to measure scar appearance. The PSAS and OSAS are tools that the patient uses to assess the scar on color, irregularity, itch, pain, thickness, stiffness and overall opinion, and the surgeon uses to assess pigmentation, pliability, relief, surface area, thickness, vascularity and overall opinion (Appendix A). Of note, only the sum of the components of the OSAS portion of the assessment scale is included to calculate the power and sample size, and will therefore be the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes will include the sum of the components of the PSAS score and the overall scores out of 10 for both the PSAS and OSAS from the patient and masked surgeon.

Conditions

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Hypertrophic Scar Scar

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

This is a prospective, single center, masked, randomized self-controlled clinical human trial to evaluate the appearance of abdominal scars after autologous free-flap breast reconstruction following post-operative application of silicone tape to improve scar quality.
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Caregivers Outcome Assessors
Staff surgeons who are responsible for assessing outcomes will be masked to which side is receiving the silicone tape. At the initial two-week post-op visit, patients will meet with the research coordinator for randomization assignments of their incisions. Surgeons will be masked to assignments. Patients will remove their dressings one day prior to their appointment with their surgeon. This will ensure no local reaction (i.e. redness after tape removal) that would compromise the masking of staff surgeons.

Study Groups

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Silicone tape

Adult subjects will act as their own control and will be randomized to have silicone tape applied to one half of their abdominoplasty incision. Patients will apply silicone tape on a daily basis, with each piece lasting 24 hours. Tape may be removed for showers and replied after drying. Total length of treatment will be two and a half months.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Silicone tape

Intervention Type DEVICE

Medical grade tape with silicone adhesive

No dressing

Control treatment using the current standard of care at our institution to the other half, which is no dressing after the initial two week post-op period, will be used on the other half of the incision for comparison. Each individual patient will act as their own control.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Silicone tape

Medical grade tape with silicone adhesive

Intervention Type DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* undergoing de novo abdominoplasty procedures as part of their breast reconstruction

Exclusion Criteria

* patients with a history of collagen disease, connective tissue disorders, psoriasis or lupus
* patients with scleroderma
* patients with a history of adverse reaction to adhesives or silicone allergy
* patients with signs of dehiscence or infection resulting in modification to the experimental or control dressings
* patients who are unable to care for their incisions
* patients who are current smokers
* patients who are currently on steroids.
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Nova Scotia Health Authority

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Jason Williams

Principal Investigation

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Jason G Williams, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Nova Scotia Health Authority

Locations

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Halifax Infirmary

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Canada

Central Contacts

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Jason G Williams, MD

Role: CONTACT

902-473-6315

Emily Burke, MD

Role: CONTACT

902-694-8080

Facility Contacts

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Jason Williams

Role: primary

902-473-6315

References

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Longaker MT, Rohrich RJ, Greenberg L, Furnas H, Wald R, Bansal V, Seify H, Tran A, Weston J, Korman JM, Chan R, Kaufman D, Dev VR, Mele JA, Januszyk M, Cowley C, McLaughlin P, Beasley B, Gurtner GC. A randomized controlled trial of the embrace advanced scar therapy device to reduce incisional scar formation. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2014 Sep;134(3):536-546. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000000417.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24804638 (View on PubMed)

Bleasdale B, Finnegan S, Murray K, Kelly S, Percival SL. The Use of Silicone Adhesives for Scar Reduction. Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). 2015 Jul 1;4(7):422-430. doi: 10.1089/wound.2015.0625.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Kappel S, Kleinerman R, King TH, Sivamani R, Taylor S, Nguyen U, Eisen DB. Does wound eversion improve cosmetic outcome?: Results of a randomized, split-scar, comparative trial. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2015 Apr;72(4):668-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2014.11.032. Epub 2015 Jan 23.

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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Other Identifiers

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1025794

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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