Vacuum-assisted closure of an exposed prosthetic femoral graft

Abstract

The multiple comorbidities present in vascular surgery patients predispose them to surgical site infections, poor wound healing, and prosthetic graft exposure. We report our experience with a patient who underwent an emergent femoral-to-femoral bypass and developed an infection at bilateral groin incisions, resulting in wound separation and prosthetic vascular graft exposure. This was successfully treated with negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) using the vacuum-assisted closure system (V.A.C., Kinetic Concepts Inc., San Antonio, Texas, USA). This is a case in which NPWT was used to treat a groin wound with an exposed vascular prosthetic graft, thereby eliminating the need for additional surgical flap coverage procedures and ultimately resulting in a completely healed wound. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Medical knowledge, Patient care, Practice based learning and improvement. Republished with permission from: Delaney KO, Smead W, Gordillo G. Vacuum assisted closure of an exposed prosthetic femoral graft. OPUS 12 Scientist 2008;2(4):1-3.