RESUMO
It has been known to the Chinese for a long time that Centella asiatica (L.) Urban, the umbelliferous pennywort, possesses a property that lessens the internal inflammatory process. The use of crushed leaves to treat ulcers is also known in India and Pakistan. At Mahidol University, pure triterpene acids and glycosides are extracted from dried leaves. One percent of this extract in cream base was used in this experimental modality. Twenty-two patients with chronic infected ulcer measuring 1-12 cm in width, 1-19 cm in length and 0.5-3.7 cm in depth, were treated with the 1% extracted alkaloids cream. The size of the ulcers were measured and recorded at the beginning of the experiment and one, two and three weeks later. It was observed that the size of the ulcers decreased at an average rate of 24 percent of the original size in the first week, 37 percent at the second week and 47 percent at the end of the third week, It is noted that the healing rate of the depth is faster than the other two dimensions by aboout 20 percent. At the end of the experiment, seventeen out of twenty-two ulcer patients were completely healed, either by epithelialization or skin grafting. The remaining five ulcer patients did not heal completely but their ulcer size were much decreased. A variety of bacteria was recovered from the wounds throughout the experiment and it seemed that they did not play any important role in the healing of the wounds.