Negative pressure therapy for infected sternal wounds: a literature review.

Sternal wound infections after cardiac surgery are infrequent yet serious complications for patients. Currently, there is no standardized approach to wound management once an infection occurs. Negative pressure therapy has shown some promising results in treating these wounds. The physiology of wound healing suggests that negative pressure therapy increases granulation and epithelialization in the patient's wound bed, which decreases the patient's healing time and pain, length of stay in the hospital, and cost of treating the infected sternal wound. Negative pressure therapy has been used in various wound types, but experimental research on sternal wound healing is limited. The purposes of this literature review are to summarize the significant findings of existing research on this issue and to suggest where further research is needed. To help ensure that care is based on the best evidence, future research should include the patient outcomes of healing time, length of stay, pain, and cost.