Background: Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) promotes wound healing and enhances the prognosis of difficult wounds by draining the leaking fluids from the wound, assisting in boosting blood supply, enhancing the creation of granulation tissue, and improving the approximation of the wound margins. Numerous acute and chronic wounds, including those with infections, necrotizing fasciitis, and burst abdomens with or without intestinal fistula were managed with the NPWT system.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of negative pressure wound care in cases of ruptured abdomens, the length of time it took for the wound to fully heal, as well as the morbidity and death rates up until the wound was fully healed. Methods: This retrospective study examined seventeen individuals who had negative pressure wound therapy for burst abdomen. The gathered operative information included the indication of the primary surgery, intra-operative findings, the length of the operation, the surgical technique, the manner of wound closure, and any measurements of intra-abdominal pressure.
Results: The present study illustrated that the mean total days of vacuum assisted closure (VAC) application was 30.53 ± 4.47. It was found that 17.6% of them being transferred to ICU and another 17.6% experiencing a complication like fistula. The outcome was reported as good granulation tissue in 5.9% of patients, success with secondary sutures in 76.5% of patients, ileostomy in 5.9% of patients, and colostomy in 11.8% of patients.
Conclusion: In the treatment of ruptured abdomen, NPWT plays a significant role in the high rate of fascial closure and relatively low rate of complications.