OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of a long-stretch bandage with that of a short-stretch compression bandage. DESIGN: Prospective evaluation of healing of venous leg ulcers in blindly randomized groups of patients. SETTING: Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. PATIENTS: Forty-three patients with venous leg ulcers were included. Forty legs in 40 patients were evaluated at 1 month (34 patients), 6 months (32 patients) or 12 months (27 patients). INTERVENTIONS: Both types of bandage were used at a width of 10 cm and applied using the same spiral bandaging technique. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ulcer healing and ulcer area reduction. RESULTS: Healed ulcers after 1 month were observed in 27% of the long-stretch group and in 5% of the short-stretch group (p = 0.15); after 6 months the corresponding figures were 50% and 36% (p = 0.49) and after 12 months 71% and 30% (p = 0.06). Using life-table analysis the predicted healing rate in the long-stretch group after 12 months was 81% and for the short-stretch group 31% (p = 0.03). The mean of relative ulcer areas at 1 month was 0.45 for the long-stretch group and 0.72 for the short-stretch group (p = 0.07), at 6 months the corresponding figures were 0.81 and 0.60 (p = 0.25) and at 12 months 0.25 and 0.95 (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The present study appears to indicate a positive influence of the elasticity of a compression bandage on venous ulcer healing.

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