In vitro Comparison of the Antimicrobial Efficiency of Commercially Available Silver-Wound Dressings Correlated with the Evaluation of Silver Release by Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry

Silver antimicrobial dressings have been extensively used as therapeutic strategies in wound management. The present study sought to asses and to compare the antimicrobial efficacy of commercially available modern silver-wound dressings. The antimicrobial activity of the silver dressings has been evaluated by the disk diffusion method, including five common wound pathogens. The silver-release profile has been determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The results demonstrated different degrees of efficacy against the tested pathogens. Silver is released at different rates, within a very large range, depending on delivery medium test, but we could not establish a correlation between the silver content/silver-release profile and the antimicrobial activity of the evaluated dressings. Different factors such as the structural properties of support materials or the type of silver species contained may influence the effectiveness of silver dressings. The obtained results suggest that silver-based dressings act by a combination of antimicrobial activity and fluid handling properties and their overall characteristics should be taken into consideration.