Vacuum-assisted wound closure (VAC) with simultaneous bone transport in the leg: a technical note

Successful treatment of infected non union in long bone fractures has always been a challenge. Segmental excision followed by bone transport is one of the common modalities of treatment in such difficult cases. The soft tissue coverage of the resulting wounds was however not well described in the literature. The authors would like to report a simple technique that was used. After segmental bone excision and application of a ring fixator, a vacuum assisted closure (VAC) dressing was applied to the wound, which resulted in not only a remarkable growth of granulation tissue that filled the soft tissue defect, but also satisfactory signs of bony union across the docking site. The authors would like to emphasise the benefits of a simple method such as VAC therapy in enhancing cover of the large soft tissue defects during simultaneous bone transportation, and thus avoiding complex plastic surgical procedures.