Mechanical negative pressure wound therapy: real-world effectiveness in challenging patient presentations

When used for wound management, negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) delivers subatmospheric pressure at the wound site, exerting multiple beneficial effects, including microstrain, macrostrain, edema management, granulation tissue formation, drainage management, and wound stabilization. Comparative effectiveness research has demonstrated similar wound healing and adverse event outcomes between traditional NPWT (tNPWT) and mechanical NPWT (mNPWT). Therefore, considerations for patient selection for mNPWT vs tNPWT are in alignment with current recommendations, including therapeutic goals, wound-related factors, patient satisfaction, quality of life, care setting, economic-related factors, and product design.

The 3 complex patient cases in the present report describe the routine use of mNPWT between December 18, 2020, and June 7, 2021, at a community hospital-based outpatient wound center within an academic health system, including 2 dehisced surgical incisions and 1 complicated venous leg ulcer. All patients received local standard of care, including surgical debridement, soap and water cleansing of the wound and extremity, hypochlorous acid 5-minute soak prior to dressing application, non-sting skin barrier periwound protection, smoking cessation and nutrition counseling, and chronic disease management. Case selections for mNPWT included: the need for frequent activity at work, minimal wound depth, lack of undermining, exudate, wound size, wound location allowing for the wound to fit comfortably beneath the mNPWT dressing, need for graft stabilization, protection of the site from repeated trauma, need for granulation tissue formation, and periwound inflammation.

Mechanical NPWT is a convenient therapeutic option that appears to deliver healing outcomes comparable to those of tNPWT but with improved wound-related quality of life. These cases reveal the real-world effectiveness of mNPWT in challenging patient presentations and wounds that have stalled. The cases outline common endpoints for using advanced therapy in addition to wound closure, such as granulation tissue formation and quality of life.