Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 17, 2025

Development of a Benchtop Model for Evaluating the Compatibility of Wound Dressing Materials with Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Systems
Published on: May 2, 2025
Comparison of Scar Quality Between Primary Incisional Negative Pressure Wound Therapy and Conventional Surgical
M Sharran1, Gopisankar Balaji2, Sukruth Anand Patel3
1Department of Orthopaedics, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry, India.
Background:
Wound healing and the quality of the scar plays a key role in deciding which dressing technique is better.
Objective:
The study aimed to determine if primary incisional negative pressure wound therapy provides better scar quality compared to conventional dressing following definitive fixation of closed forearm fractures.
Methods:
A prospective randomized control trial of patients diagnosed with acute closed forearm fractures who underwent open reduction and internal fixation from April 2022 to January 2024. Patients received either a standard sterile dressing or incisional negative pressure wound therapy (iNPWT). The primary outcome was comparing the histopathological scar quality by examining collagen composition at 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes included assessment of surgical site infection (ASEPSIS Score) and clinical scar assessment using the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale. Univariate logistic regression analyses were performed.
Results:
34 patients were included, 47% received iNPWT (n = 16), and 53% received standard dressings (n = 18). With Masson's trichrome stain,15 participants (93.7%) in the intervention group experienced a favourable outcome with an unadjusted relative risk of 1.13 (95% CI: 0.88-1.43, p = 0.341). With Reticulin stain, 12 participants (75%) in the intervention group exhibited desirable results with an unadjusted relative risk of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.58-1.07,p = 0.13). The intervention group had a mean ASEPSIS score of 1.75 with an SD of 2.11 [95% CI-0.62 to 2.87, p = 0.14]. The calculated difference in mean Patient scar scores between the two groups was 7.31 (p = 0.003), and the observer score was 4.5 (p = 0.043).
Conclusions:
Patients who underwent iNPWT showed cosmetic satisfaction of scar and favourable outcomes in histopathological assessment with Masson's trichrome stain.
Level Of Evidence Iii:
This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .
More Related Videos
09:41Surgical Closure of Equine Abdomen, Prevention, and Management of Incisional Complications
Published on: May 10, 2024
09:06Assessment of Acute Wound Healing using the Dorsal Subcutaneous Polyvinyl Alcohol Sponge Implantation and Excisional Tail Skin Wound Models.
Published on: March 25, 2020