ReviewClinical medicine (London, England)2026
Larval debridement therapy for diabetes-related foot ulcers: Evidence, mechanisms and practical guidance.
Review in Clinical medicine (London, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Hypertension: A common, yet poorly managed condition. What can we do better?Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2026Article
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
Larval debridement therapy (maggot therapy) uses sterile Lucilia spp larvae to remove necrotic tissue, reduce bacterial burden and may support healing. The 2023 International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot wound-healing guideline could not recommend biosurgical debridement because it found no randomised controlled trials meeting its prespecified criteria. We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Scopus and Google Scholar (inception-June 2025) for clinical studies of larval therapy in diabetes-related foot ulcers. Evidence is limited: one randomised trial (n = 50) reported reductions in Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonisation after 48-96 h when larval therapy was added to standard care; another randomised trial (n = 54) found faster debridement with free-range larvae than with bagged larvae. Observational studies suggest rapid debridement and possible reductions in bioburden, but healing outcomes are inconsistent and at high risk of bias. Larval therapy may be considered as an adjunct for sloughy/necrotic ulcers when conventional debridement is unsuitable, alongside multidisciplinary care. Larger trials are needed.
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