Negative pressure wound therapy: clinical utility

Abstract

Abstract: Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), also known as topical negative pressure therapy, has been increasingly used in health care for the management of a wide variety of wounds over the last 2–3 decades. It is an advanced therapy that can be helpful to accelerate wound healing in both acute and chronic wounds by delivering negative pressure (suction) to the wound bed. More recent advancements in the application of NPWT have provided clinicians with wider choices of utilization. There are now devices available that can deliver irrigation to the wound bed, be used for closed surgical incisions, or are disposable and highly portable. Systematic reviews considering NPWT have been published previously. These usually focus on one wound group or device and fail to offer practical clinical guidance due to the scrutiny offered to the evidence via a systematic review process. Here, an overview of the history of NPWT, the varieties of device available, their wide clinical application, and the evidence to support its use are explored in a pragmatic way.