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Background: Resin salve of the Norway spruce (Picea abies) has been used in folk medicine to heal wounds and infections., Objectives: To study its clinical effectiveness in the treatment of pressure ulcers of the skin., Methods: A prospective, randomized, controlled multicentre trial involving 37 patients with grade II-IV pressure ulcers in 11 primary care hospitals was carried out between 2005 and 2007. The ulcers were randomly allocated to receive either resin salve or sodium carboxymethylcellulose hydrocolloid polymer treatment. The inclusion criterion was grade II-IV pressure ulcer. Exclusion criteria were a life expectancy of less than 6 months or a malignant disease. The primary outcome measure was complete healing of the ulcer within 6 months. Secondary outcome measures were partial healing of the ulcer, and successful eradication of bacterial strains cultured from the ulcers at study entry., Results: Thirteen patients of the resin group and nine patients of the control group completed the 6-month trial. All ulcers healed in 12 of the 13 patients (92%) in the resin group and in four of the nine patients (44%) in the control group (P=0.003; power 73%). Complete healing of the ulcers over time was significantly more common in the resin group than in the control group (P=0.013). Bacterial cultures from the ulcer area more often became negative within 1 month in the resin group., Conclusions: Traditional resin salve is significantly more effective in the treatment of infected and noninfected severe pressure ulcers than cellulose polymer gauzes.

Objective: To determine whether mastic gum suppresses or eradicates Helicobacter pylori infection in humans., Patients and Methods: Nine patients with H. pylori infection, and without gastroduodenal ulceration, were recruited from day-case endoscopy lists and treated with mastic 1 g four times daily for 14 days. [13C]Urea breath tests (UBTs) were carried out immediately before, on day 15 and 5 weeks after treatment with mastic., Results: Mastic had no effect on H. pylori status in any of the eight completed patients; all remained H. pylori positive by UBT with no change in delta scores [pre-treatment mean +/- s.e.m. 19.1 +/- 3.7, day 15 (post-treatment) 18.7 +/- 3.8, P = 0.8, paired t-test]., Conclusion: Despite reported anti-H. pylori action in vitro, this preliminary study shows that mastic has no effect on H. pylori in humans.

Objective: To determine the ability of mastic monotherapy to eradicate Helicobacter pylori infection from mice., Materials and Methods: The susceptibility of H. pylori SS1 to mastic was assessed by broth dilution determination of the MIC and MBC. Mice were inoculated intragastrically with either a suspension of H. pylori SS1 (n = 70) or brain-heart infusion broth alone (n = 10). Mice were given antimicrobial chemotherapy 4 weeks after infection and were administered the mouse equivalent of either 2 g of mastic twice daily for 7 days or a triple therapy regimen containing the mouse equivalent of 400 mg of metronidazole, 250 mg of clarithromycin and 20 mg of omeprazole twice daily for 7 days. Mice were killed either immediately or 1 month after the completion of treatment, and their stomachs cultured for H. pylori., Results: The mastic MIC and MBC of H. pylori SS1 were 7.80 and 31.25 mg/L, respectively. The triple therapy regimen eradicated infection from 19 of 20 SS1-infected mice. Mastic failed to eradicate infection from any of the 18 SS1-infected mice (P < 0.001) and there was no signifi- cant reduction in gastric bacterial load in mice treated with this regimen., Conclusion: Despite reported beneficial effects in ulcer patients and the good in vitro activity of mastic against H. pylori, this compound is unable to eradicate H. pylori infection from mice.