1. Practice of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in Togo.
- Author
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K. S., Amouzou, T. E., Kouevi-Koko, Y. E., James, A., Abalo, and A., Dossim
- Subjects
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WOUND care , *NEGATIVE-pressure wound therapy , *TEACHING hospitals , *ORTHOPEDIC surgery complications , *MEDICAL suction - Abstract
Background: Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is considered as an innovative technique in wound management. The commercial VACR Therapy system is not available in Togo. We established NPWT using local materials. We present our technique and results. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study based on 15 patients whose wounds were treated with NPWT in the wound care department of Sylvanus Olympio Teaching Hospital between March 2014 and March 2015. We analysed the materials used for the NPWT and the wound outcomes. Results: 15 patients were included, with an average age of 22.5 years, ranging between 16 and 60 years, and a sex ratio of 1.5 for men. Traumatic wounds and complications of orthopaedic surgery were the most encountered lesions, followed by leg ulcers. Gauze was used as an interface for all patients and the main source of the vacuum was an electric surgical suction machine (9 of 15). The average duration of treatment was 10 days, with a range between six days and 18 days. Ten skin grafts, a fasciocutaneous flap, and two muscle flaps were performed after the NPWT. None of our patients had spontaneous wound healing under NPWT. The patients expressed moderate pain at baseline, which subsided after a few hours with or without step one analgesics. Patients, including those in whom the procedure was aborted, were all very satisfied. They referred to the absence of pain and avoidance of discomfort and pain from daily dressing. Conclusion: NPWT has been successfully used in the treatment of wounds using local materials. The results obtained are comparable to those in the literature using the same devices or VACR Therapy devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016