A portable, disposable system for negative-pressure wound therapy.

Abstract

Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) imparts a number of clinical effects that promote a healing response and, as such, is a well-established means of treating a variety of wound types. Historically, the technique has been primarily used in the hospital setting; however, the introduction of more portable devices has led to an increase in the use of NPWT in the homecare setting, thereby facilitating early discharge of patients from hospital and continuity of care in the community. Portable NPWT devices also have the potential to impact positively on patients' quality of life, allowing increased mobility and freedom to undertake normal activities of daily living. Following the development of its standard Avance® NPWT system and associated dressing kits, Mölnlycke Health Care (Gothenburg, Sweden) has introduced a single-patient-use, disposable NPWT system; Avance Solo. This has been developed with a view to maximising patient freedom and mobility, providing a single-patient-use NPWT solution for multi-week treatment to allow quick and easy discharge of patients from hospital to home, and reducing some of the challenges of logistics and administration associated with the provision of NPWT for the caregiver. As with the standard NPWT system, the single-patient use system is supplied with a number of products incorporating Safetac® adhesive technology to minimise the risk of patients suffering unnecessary pain and trauma associated with dressing changes. This article presents a series of case studies describing procedures and outcomes following the application of the Avance Solo single-patient-use system.