OUR EXPERIENCE WITH NEGATIVE PRESSURE WOUND THERAPY, AN USEFUL RECONSTRUCTIVE TOOL IN WOUND MANAGEMENT

Some wounds may be difficult to manage despite the options of skin grafting, local flaps or microvascular free tissue transfers. Some patients may not be the candidates for these procedures. Some wound beds are not amenable for these treatments because of poor wound beds and inadequate granulation. Argenta et al first described a vaccum-assisted closure. This method of wound care promotes granulation, promotes wound contracture, and decreases bacterial count. This method is successful even in treating grade III B open fractures that may have required a local muscle flap or a microvascular free tissue transfer. The significant improvement in the wound bed, however makes the reconstructive procedure easier. We tried this method in our patients with acute and chronic wounds, where immediate reconstruction was not able to apply for varied reasons, both local and systemic. We found this as a useful tool for the treatment of variety of wounds to achieve early closure with less hospital stay, cost, and less morbidity