Retinervus luffae fructus (RLF): a novel material for use in negative pressure wound therapy

To describe a modified negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) apparatus, made mainly of an environmentally-friendly material derived from the retinervus luffae fructus (RLF; or loofah) plant.

We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients with skin defects on their limbs who underwent treatment with the RLF-NPWT device from September 2012 to October 2012. The endpoint of the study was healing by secondary intention; the time (days) to endpoint was evaluated.

The RLF-NPWT device was used in 16 patients. The age of the patients ranged from 15-82 years, with a mean age of 43 ± 17 years. Six patients sustained crush injuries, nine patients had open limb injuries from motor vehicle accidents and a further patient had a diabetic foot ulcer. The mean time to healing was 8.5 ± 2.4 days. Following RLF-NPWT, fresh granulation tissue was observed in all wound beds, with no evidence of macroscopical necrosis. All 16 patients in the study achieved secondary healing.

The environmentally friendly RLF-NPWT apparatus is easy to use and able to provide continual negative pressure for optimal preparation of the wound bed. The cost-effectiveness of RLF-NPWT compared to standard NPWT requires further investigation.

There were no external sources of funding for this study. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.