ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2014
Mechanisms of maggot-induced wound healing: what do we know, and where do we go from here?
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Maggot Therapy in Wound Healing: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Larval therapy vs conventional silver dressings for full-thickness burns: a randomized controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2023Trial
- Insecticidal and immunotoxic actions of 2-octenoic acid in the green bottle fly Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae).Medical and veterinary entomology · 2026Article
- Morphometric Evaluation of Maggot Debridement Therapy on Healing Outcomes in Chronic Wounds.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Antibacterial Potential of Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Maggot Excretions/Secretions in Presence of Human Tear Fluid.Neotropical entomology · 2025Article
- Advanced squamous cell carcinoma with myiasis: a case report.Journal of surgical case reports · 2025Article
- Efficacy of Larval Therapy for Wounds: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Procedures for determining the antimicrobial activity of maggot excretions and secretions of the green bottle fly: a narrative literature review.Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologica · 2025Review
- Machine learning-based text mining for cutaneous myiasis and potential value of an accidental maggot therapy for complicated skin and soft tissue infection with sepsis.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- Maggot magic: Unveiling the superpowers of larval therapy in malignant wound management.JAAD case reports · 2024Article
- Animal healer for refractory diseases: Myth or reality?Heliyon · 2024Review
- Pain Assessment in Patients Undergoing Maggot Debridement Therapy in the Process of Local Treatment of Chronic Wounds.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Cloning, expression and molecular analysis of recombinant Netrin-A protein ofSAGE open medicine · 2024Article
- Variables Associated with Attitudes toward Biodebridement UsingHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- An Overview of Recent Developments in the Management of Burn Injuries.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Larval Wound Therapy: Possibilities and Potential Limitations-A Literature Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Defensins ofInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Insects and Public Health: An Overview.Insects · 2023Article
- Diabetic foot ulcer: Challenges and future.World journal of diabetes · 2022Review
- Therapeutic effects of Lucilia sericata larval excretion/secretion products on Leishmania major under in vitro and in vivo conditions.Parasites & vectors · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
MEDICINAL MAGGOTS ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE THREE MAJOR MECHANISMS OF ACTION ON WOUNDS, BROUGHT ABOUT CHEMICALLY AND THROUGH PHYSICAL CONTACT: debridement (cleaning of debris), disinfection, and hastened wound healing. Until recently, most of the evidence for these claims was anecdotal; but the past 25 years have seen an increase in the use and study of maggot therapy. Controlled clinical studies are now available, along with laboratory investigations that examine the interaction of maggot and host on a cellular and molecular level. This review was undertaken to extract the salient data, make sense, where possible, of seemingly conflicting evidence, and reexamine our paradigm for maggot-induced wound healing. Clinical and laboratory data strongly support claims of effective and efficient debridement. Clinical evidence for hastened wound healing is meager, but laboratory studies and some small, replicated clinical studies strongly suggest that maggots do promote tissue growth and wound healing, though it is likely only during and shortly after the period when they are present on the wound. The best way to evaluate-and indeed realize-maggot-induced wound healing may be to use medicinal maggots as a "maintenance debridement" modality, applying them beyond the point of gross debridement.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.