Recruiting

Packing vs. No Packing

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT02822768

Conditions

Cutaneous Abscess

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Packing

No packing

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this study is to examine patients undergoing incision and drainage of cutaneous abscesses to determine if routine packing of the abscess cavity affects the need for further interventions such as repeat incision and drainage, antibiotic administration or hospital admission.

Conditions

Cutaneous Abscess

Study ID

NCT02822768

Start date

Aug, 2016

Status verified date

Jan, 2026

Completion date

Apr, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Apr, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. All patients 18 years of age and above
2. Patients that require a cutaneous abscess incision and drainage
3. English-speaking subjects only

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Unable to return for 48-hour follow-up.
2. Patients being admitted to the hospital or going to the operating room for incision and drainage
3. Pregnant patients
4. Patients less than 18 years of age
5. Prisoners or persons in police custody
6. Patients with infected bursa
7. Non-English speaking subjects

Study Design

Enrollment

196 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Diagnostic

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: Packing

The patient is to have a long piece of gauze within the abscess cavity in an attempt to keep it open and allow purulent material to continue to drain after the initial incision and release of purulent material has been performed.

placebo comparator: No packing

The patient is not to have packing of the abscess as part of the incision and drainage procedure

Interventions

Packing

The patient will receive packing as part of their wound care

No packing

The patient will not receive packing as part of their wound care

Primary outcome measure

  • Percentage of patients needing further treatment [ Time Frame: 14 days ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Michael Darracq, MD, MPH

559-499-6440mdarracq@fresno.ucsf.edu

Jannet Castaneda, BA

559-499-6435jcastaneda@fresno.ucsf.edu

Locations

Community Regional Medical Center

Recruiting

Fresno, California, United States, 93701

Contacts

Michael Darracq, MD, MPH

559-499-6432mdarracq@fresno.ucsf.edu

Jannet Castaneda, BA

559-499-6435jcastaneda@fresno.ucsf.edu

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Last update posted

Jan 26, 2026

Last verified

Jan, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, San Francisco on 2026-01-26.