Effectiveness and safety of negative pressure wound therapy in patients with deep sternal wound infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Background: Deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) is a severe and life-threatening complication following cardiovascular surgery. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has emerged as a promising therapeutic bridging option for DSWI. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the authors aimed to evaluate the impact of NPWT on clinical outcomes in patients with DSWI. Material and Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted according to the PRISMA guideline in electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers, and risk of bias was assessed by ROBINS-I tool. The primary outcomes assessed were mortality rate and reinfection rate. The secondary outcomes assessed were length of hospital stay and ICU stay. Results: In this systematic review identified a total of 36 studies, comprising 3681 patients with DSWI who received treatment. The meta-analysis revealed that NPWT was associated with a significant reduction in mortality rate (RR 0.46, 95% CI: 0.35–0.61, P<0.000001) and reinfection rate (RR 0.43, 95% CI: 0.25–0.74, P=0.002) compared to conventional wound management. Furthermore, pooling of these studies showed significant difference between the NPWT and conventional treatment groups in length of hospital stay (mean difference: −4.49, 95% CI: −8.14 to −0.83; P=0.02) and length of ICU stay (mean difference: −1.11, 95% CI: −2.18 to −0.04; P=0.04). Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis provide evidence that NPWT is superior to conventional treatment for patients with DSWI following cardiovascular surgery.