Novel use of doxycycline in continuous-instillation negative pressure wound therapy as "wound chemotherapy".

Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is frequently employed in the treatment of complex wounds. The authors present a description of real-time streaming therapy of a variety of wound chemotherapeutic agents through NPWT. Doxycycline, which acts as a competitive inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases and tumor necrosis factor alpha and further decreases inflammation through the reduction of nitrous oxide production, may prove helpful when delivered in this manner. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report in the literature describing this method of delivery of doxycycline.