Economic evaluation of noncontact normothermic wound therapy for treatment of pressure ulcers.

New adjunctive treatments for pressure ulcers have become available to complement standard care. The economic benefits of new advanced wound care treatments like noncontact normothermic wound therapy are related to: the costs of adequately providing standard care treatment, the baseline probability of healing a pressure ulcer to closure with standard care, the relative improvement in healing rates with the advanced wound care treatment and the acquisition cost of the advanced treatment. Healing data from preliminary clinical trials suggest that pressure ulcer healing in long-term care patients is accelerated two-fold with noncontact normothermic wound therapy. At this healing rate, noncontact normothermic wound therapy for stage III and IV pressure ulcer is an economically attractive intervention. Additional well-controlled clinical trials are necessary.