Oncologic feasibility for negative pressure wound therapy application in surgical wounds: A meta-analysis

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) decreases postoperative complications of various surgeries. However, the use of NPWT for oncological surgical wounds remains controversial. To evaluate the association of NPWT with oncologic recurrence in surgical wounds without residual malignancy, we analysed studies that compared NPWT with conventional non-pressure dressings for cancer surgical wounds without residual tumour by August 12, 2020. We compared tumour recurrence rates and postoperative complications between the two procedures. The six studies included 118 patients who received NPWT, and 149 patients who received conventional non-pressure wound care. The overall quality of the included studies was high based on the Newcastle-Ottawa scale score of 7.5. Tumour recurrence after NPWT was not significantly different compared with conventional non-negative pressure wound care (9.3% versus 11.4%, P = 0.40). There was no significant heterogeneity between the studies (I²  = 3%). Although NTWT was associated with a lower complication rate compared with the control group, the result was non-significant (P = 0.15). Application of NPWT in oncologic resection wounds without residual malignancy revealed no difference in local recurrence and may reduce the risk of postoperative complications compared with conventional non-negative pressure dressings. NPWT can be considered an alternative method for reconstruction in challenging cases.