A prospective study of negative pressure wound therapy with integrated irrigation for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

OBJECTIVE

Patients with diabetes often present with pedal wounds resistant to standard wound healing modalities and become chronic in nature. These chronic wounds in diabetic patients have a high incidence of complications including infection and amputation. Negative pressure wound therapy has been found to facilitate healing of the stagnant pedal wound. This protocol was designed to determine wound closure rates using a unique negative pressure wound therapy system that delivers vacuum-assisted wound closure with a simultaneous irrigation feature (Svedman Wound Treatment System).

METHODS

A prospective single center study was conducted in adults with diabetic foot ulcers ≥cm(2) or more in size showing no signs of clinical infection, and having adequate blood flow. Patients received dressing changes and irrigation on a standard regimen with weekly wound assessments for a minimum of 6 weeks.

RESULTS

11 women and 8 men with a mean wound size of 2.4 cm × 2.2 cm were treated with the device. A total of 14 of /19 (74%) patients healed completely, with a median healing time of 34 days (range, 9-114). Eleven of 19 patients (58%) healed within the 6-week evaluation period. For the 5 patients who did not heal completely with the device, other treatments were utilized, including further wound debridement, muscle flaps, and skin grafting procedures.

CONCLUSIONS

Negative pressure wound therapy with integrated irrigation was well tolerated by the patients without complications related to the device application or irrigation feature. The data clearly suggests that this technology may be a promising alternative for the chronic nonhealing diabetic wound.