Objective: This clinical study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy and safety of topical Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) plus silver sulfadiazine cream for the treatment of partial thickness burn wounds.

Materials and methods: This investigation was a prospective clinical study in patients with partial thickness burn wounds. Patients eligible for this study must have burn area higher than 20% of total body surface area and be aged between 18 and 60 years. Total of 9 patients was recruited into this study and all patients were treated with EGF plus silver sulfadiazine cream once daily for consecutively 4 weeks. Pain score was evaluated using a visual analog scale and blood serum was used to evaluate liver and kidney function on the day of enrollment and on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day of treatment.

Results: Average pain score was the highest at the first time of treatment and then significantly declined after that. Liver and kidney functions were almost in normal range except aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT), which were a little over the upper limit at initial of treatment then subsided to normal in the second week. There was no abnormality at the wound site throughout the study.

Conclusions: It is concluded that EGF plus silver sulfadiazine cream is safe for the treatment of partial thickness burn wounds.