Closure of Complex Wounds by a Simple Skin Stretching System Associated With Vacuum Sealing Drainage—Clinical Outcome of 34 Patients

• Published in: International journal of lower extremity wounds 2023-09, Vol.22 (3), p.555-562
• Main Authors: Wu, Yaojun, Chen, Liang, Mao, Xinliang, Ru, Zhengliang, Yu, Liying, Chen, Mimi, Wang, Jingnan, Chen, Jiejie, Pang, Qingjiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1534-7346; 1552-6941
• DOI: 10.1177/15347346211032046

Management of complex wounds with large skin defects presents a real challenge for orthopedic or reconstructive surgeons. We developed a simple skin stretching system associated with vacuum sealing drainage to examine the efficiency and complication. A total of 34 patients with different types of complex wounds were retrospectively included from January 2015 to March 2021. All patients in the study were underwent the treatment by 2 stages. The method was used to the wounds from 4.71 to 169.65 cm2 with a median defect size of 25.13 cm2. The median time for wound closure was 11.5 days (range: 5-32 days), although the median absolute reduction was 2.08 cm2/day (range: 0.15-25.66 cm2/day). Depending on the site of the wounds, the cause of the wound, and the rate of max-width/max-length (W/L), these complex wounds could be separately divided into several groups. There were statistically significant differences in the median value of the above variables (P