NPWT: Deeper benefits, broader applications for wound vac

Today’s healthcare providers face a dual challenge: drive healthy outcomes for their patients, and drive healthy outcomes for their institutions. As standards rise and budgets shrink, they need to identify tools and strategies to meet both of these challenges at once. In wound care, a pivotal solution is Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT).

Clinical effectiveness

The efficacy of NPWT (sometimes referred to as wound vac), has been proven again and again.

The efficacy of NPWT (sometimes referred to as wound vac), has been proven again and again. In a Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Literature Review of Efficacy, Cost Effectiveness, and Impact on Patients' Quality of Life in Chronic Wound Management and Its Implementation in the United Kingdom, by Othman, researchers point to “a substantial body of clinical and economic evidence” that wound vac therapy leads to faster healing, earlier discharges, and fewer readmissions.¹

This occurs because wound vac therapy fosters a healthy healing environment. It promotes granulation tissue formation², reduces edema³, isolates the wound from external infection⁴, and more. These factors not only support better patient health, they support business goals on the institutional level

Positive experience

Many studies reinforce how Negative Pressure Wound Therapy not only supports better wound healing, but also provides better experiences for patients and caregivers.

In one survey, Negative Pressure Wound Therapy: improving the patient experience Part 3 of 3, by Upton and Andrews, patients who had NPWT overwhelmingly considered the experience positive.⁵

In another study⁶, State-of-the-art treatment of chronic leg ulcers: A randomized controlled trial comparing vacuum-assisted closure (V.A.C.) with modern wound dressings, by Vuerstaek et al, both groups showed a significant increase in quality of life at the end of therapy and a significant decrease in pain scores at the end of follow-up. But importantly: The patients with chronic leg ulcers who used NPWT healed much faster and the costs related to their care were lower.

In yet another study⁷, The clinical efficacy and cost effectiveness of the vacuum-assisted closure technique in the management of acute and chronic wounds: a randomized controlled trial, by Braakenburg et al, patients with acute and chronic wounds using NPWT not only healed as fast or faster than those given other types of dressings, but NPWT offered the “important advantage [of] comfort for patients and nursing staff.”

The benefit of comfort was further supported by another study⁸, Impact of gauze-based NPWT on the patient and nursing experience in the treatment of challenging wounds, by Hurd et al. Researchers found that when gauze dressings were used with NWPT, four out of five dressing changes were both pain-free and described by nurses as “easy,” requiring an average of only about 20 minutes to complete.

These studies reinforce how Negative Pressure Wound Therapy not only supports better wound healing, but also provides better experiences for patients and caregivers.

Diverse applications

The value of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy is not simply in the above benefits, but in its breadth of applications. Beyond those mentioned above, numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of NPWT in treating a host of other types of wounds, including:

• Dehisced wounds ⁹
• Diabetic ulcers ¹⁰
• Pressure ulcers ¹¹
• Venous insufficiency ulcers ¹²
• Traumatic wounds ¹³
• Partial thickness burns ¹⁴
• Flaps and grafts ¹⁵
• Closed surgical incisions ¹⁶

Medela’s Invia Liberty NPWT System and Invia Motion NPWT System are designed to provide effectiveness, satisfaction, and diverse applications in all wound care settings, including hospitals and home-care environments.

To learn more about the versatility and convenience of Medela Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Systems, explore the Medela portfolio today.