Negative Pressure Wound Therapy

Abstract

Non-healing wounds are defined as wounds that do not improve after four weeks of treatment or do not heal in eight weeks. They are characterized by loss of substance involving the deep tissue layers, with a tendency to become chronic and relapse. For these reasons chronic wounds involve a difficult, long and expensive treatment, causing a negative impact on physical and mental health and on the quality of life of patients. The evolution of medical science, the direct experience in the field, and the better understanding of the mechanisms of healing of the lesions have led to the development of advanced methods for the treatment of skin lesions. There is a wide range of advanced treatments, including negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). When proven efficacious and safe, the use of NPWT for the treatment of hardly healing wounds has a positive impact on the health system, the organization of services, patients and their families.