Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in an Immunocompromised Child: A Case Report From a Resource-Limited Setting in Ghana

An 8-year-old immunocompromised girl with a large septic wound on the left thigh was admitted to the facility after the failure of home treatment by the family. The child was generally stable aside from the difficulty in walking on the left leg. An improvised vacuum-assisted closure device was used to promote wound healing, as the actual device was not available. The wound experienced massive and impressive improvement within the first week of admission. Healthy and beautiful granulation tissues filled up the depth of the wound, closing it up by the third day of wound dressing. This case illustrates the possibility of healing large wounds faster than expected using negative pressure wound therapy, where the patient's immune status does not affect the healing process. This can be employed to reduce patients' length of hospital stay as well as reduce the workload on staff.