Negative pressure wound therapy with instillation on sternal wound: is it really worrisome?

Excerpt

Negative pressure wound therapy is being used for treatment of sternal wound infections for a long time [1]. It reduces the reinfection rate, the overall hospital stay, and mortality [2]. Negative pressure wound therapy with instillation (NPWTi) is also in use for a couple of years (for different parts of the body) [3]. NPWTi has been proven to have better results than the standard NPWT [4]. There is reluctance in the use of NPWTi on sternal wounds, both by the manufacturer and the surgeons. Manufacturers recommend this as off-label use for sternal wounds. The reasons sighted are (1) risk of bleeding and (2) possible leakage of the fluid in the thoracic cavity [5]. For the same reasons, there are hardly any publications on the use of NPWTi on sternal wounds. …