A retrospective study: clinical experience using vacuum-assisted closure in the treatment of wounds.

We report the results of our wound care experience using the wound vac as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of sternal, spinal, and lower-extremity wounds. This is a retrospective study in which 42 patients were evaluated between 1999 and 2002 for nonhealing sternal, spinal, and lower-extremity wounds. There were 12 patients with sternal wounds with a variety of pathogens who were treated with antimicrobials along with the wound VAC. The VAC was applied for an average of 12 days, and all 12 patients went onto complete closure by the end of four weeks. There were 14 patients in the lower-extremity wound group, again, with a variety of pathogens. The VAC was placed for an average of 29.3 days to achieve closure along with the wound VAC. There were 16 spinal wound patients with a variety of pathogens. All the patients received antimicrobial therapy, with the average duration of the VAC beings 27.6 days and closure taking about eight weeks. The wound VAC, along with appropriate antimicrobial therapy and surgery, appears to help reduce the number of days to healing, along with a reduction in the number hospital days and possibly costs to the health system.