[Vacuum-therapy of chronic wounds in dermatologic departments]

Although the positive effects of negative pressure-therapy in wound-healing has been well known for several decades, the first paper on the now widely used vacuum systems was published ten years ago. Since then vacuum-therapy has been widely used in patients with"hard-to-heal" wounds, including dermatologic patients. Although there is still a lack of relevant comparative prospective controlled clinical trials, vacuum-therapy seems to accelerate the healing process in chronic wounds in both the granulation and epithelialization phases. Therefore, following debridement, vacuum-therapy can be considered as the therapy of choice for many patients with chronic wounds.