Aatru - Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT)

• Reduce morbidity (including systemic complications, long–term sequelae/after-effect, pain, patient/caregiver anxiety) and mortality
• Reduce length of hospital stay and unplanned readmission
• Improve hospital efficiency, e.g. by preventing delays in follow-on treatment (such as chemotherapy) and allowing greater patient throughput
• Reduce indirect and direct healthcare costs
• Reduce social and psychological costs for patients, their families and caregivers
• Enhance oncological survival
• Enhance patient satisfaction and departmental/institutional standing

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has been in use for more than 20 years for the management of a wide range of different wound types. More recently, NPWT systems have been used to manage closed surgical incisions in patients at high risk of surgical site complications.

Some simplified and advanced NPWT systems no longer employ a fluid-collection canister, but allow any exudate produced by the wound to evaporate through a high moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) dressing or to be collected in the super-absorbent pad in the dressing.

The ultraportable, discreet versions of NPWT are ideally suited for use on closed surgical incisions that are not expected to produce large volumes of exudate.

NPWT has been used on closed surgical incisions following a variety of different types of surgery, including abdominal, cardiothoracic, colorectal, obstetric, orthopedic, pediatric, plastic/breast, trauma and vascular surgery. (Source: World Union of Wound Healing Societies Consensus Document)

In the US, SSIs affect about 500,000 surgical patients each year and lead to about 8,000 deaths annually. (Source: Najjar PA, Smink DS. Prophylactic antibiotics and prevention of surgical site infections. Surg Clin N Am 2015; 95: 269-83.) A patient with an SSI has a 2–11-fold increase in mortality compared with a post-surgical patient without an SSI. (Source: Anderson DJ, Podgorny K, Berris-Torres SI, et al. Strategies to prevent surgical site infections in acute care hospitals: 2014 update. Inf Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014; 35(6): 605-27.)

NPWT is an established practice in wound care to treat acute wounds, chronic wounds, and surgical incisions. The therapy consists of a suction pump that delivers -80mmHg +/- 20mmHg connected to a sealed dressing that is applied to the wound site. During the therapy, the edges of the wound bed are pulled closer together, exudate is removed, and the wound or surgical incision is protected from outside contaminants.

Traditional NPWT devices consist of large pumps with disposable dressings that are purchased or rented for repeated patient use.

Single Use NPWT devices consist of small disposable pumps and dressings that are designed for single patient use.

Any infection that occurs in the part of the body where a surgery took place is called an Surgical Site Infections. (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/HAI/ssi/ssi.html) Due to high financial burdens, healthcare systems have put an emphasis on the prevention of SSIs. Single Use NPWT has gained acceptance as a preventative strategy.

NPWT therapy is recognized for lowering SSIs, reducing hospital readmission rates, and shortening the length of hospital stays for many surgery patients.