Sterilization of medical dressings with enhanced antimicrobial properties

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sponge dressing for treating wounds comprised of a polymer sponge containing a plurality of antimicrobial dyes with at least one dye being gram positive and at least one other dye being gram negative and a silicon adhesive secured to a sponge surface. The sponge dressing can be exposed initially to gamma radiation and later sterilized by ethylene oxide or alternatively it can be sterilized by ethylene oxide and later irradiated by gamma radiation. The sponge dressing has a morphology characterized by an average pore throat diameter of 0.5-500 μm and a porosity ranging from about 60% to about 99.5%. The sponge dressing can also contain at least one biofilm reducing agent, at least one chelating agent and an ionic and non-ionic surfactant.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.