Abstract
Background: Negative pressure therapy (NPT), primarily introduced for the treatment of pressure ulcers or chronic debilitating wounds, has recently emerged as a novel treatment strategy in the field of cardiac surgery, providing superior results to the conventional therapeutic strategies.
Patients and methods: From November 2004 to October 2005, 25 patients underwent NPT (negative pressure therapy). Four patients (16%) were treated for extensive leg-wound infections, 10 (40%) were treated for superficial sternal wound infections and 11 (44%) for deep sternal wound infections. The median age was 67.9 years (range 48 to 79) and the median BMI was 34.2 kg/m2 (range 28 to 41). Because of wound infection complications, 11 patients (44%) were re-admitted to the department. In 13 patients (52%), NPT was employed after the failure of the conventional treatment strategy.
Results: All 25 patients were successfully healed. In-hospital mortality was 0% and 30-day survival was 100%. The overall length of hospitalization reached 36.4 days (range 11 to 62). The median number of dressing changes was 4.9 (range 3 to 9). The median NPT treatment time until the surgical closure was 9.7 days (range 6 to 24 days). In 17 patients (68%), the excessive residual sternal defect required a local advancement flap transfer. One patient (4%) with a chronic wire-related fistula was re-admitted 6 months after NPT therapy.
Conclusion: NPT therapy can be considered as an effective treatment strategy associated with a low risk of procedure failure and wound infection recurrence, particularly in the management of sternal wound infection after cardiac surgery.
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M. Simek
M. Simek, M.D. Department of Cardiac Surgery University Hospital and Palacky University Faculty of Medicine I. P. Pavlova 6, 775 20 Olomouc, Czech Republic Tel.: +420588442344 Fax: +420588442337 E-mail: [email protected]