Efficacy of Negative Pressure Therapy (NPWT) in the Management of Wounds of Different Etiologies

Abstract

The objective was to assess the role of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in the management of wounds of various etiologies, infected or not, acute or chronic. The study was conducted in a group of 37 patients (24 men and 13 women) aged 26 to 86 years with acute or chronic wounds, posttraumatic or due to chronic diseases located on the lower limbs or following oncological abdominal surgery. In all cases a Vacuum Assisted Closure (VAC) system was continuously applied using a subatmospheric pressure ranging from 90 to 120 mmHg. Beside sex, age and etiology of soft tissue defect the following parameters were studied: surgical treatment performed prior to NPWT application, frequency of dressing changes, duration of NPWT, level of subatmospheric pressure used in each case, number of hospital days, complications arising from NPWT use. The outcome was favorable in all cases without such complications as infection or bleeding, a perilesional erythema (contact dermatitis caused by the used adhesive tape) being noted in only 13.51% of cases. The average duration of NPWT was 8.1 days. The frequency of dressing changes was in most cases of 3 days (89.18%) with a group mean of 3.05 days, and the average applied negative pressure was -110.83 mmHg, range -90mmHg to -120 mm Hg. No complications requiring the interruption of NPWT use were recorded. NPWT, by stimulating wound constriction and granulation tissue formation is an option in the management of acute or chronic wounds of various etiologies, whether infected or not, resulting in a decrease in the number of surgeries and their complexity, length of hospital stay and, last but not least, reduced patient suffering.