Vacuum assisted closure therapy for treatment of complex wounds in replanted extremities

The object of this study was to compare the outcomes of the vacuum assisted closure (VAC) therapy and conventional wound care with dressing change for treatment of complex wounds in patients with replantation of amputated upper and lower extremities. Data of 43 patients with replantation of amputated extremities from May 2004 to December 2011 were reviewed. There were 18 wounds of 18 patients with replantation, which were treated by dressing change and 26 wounds of 25 patients by VAC therapy. The outcomes were evaluated by the survival rate of replanted extremities, growth of granulation tissue, interval between wound treatment and secondary procedure and eventual secondary wound coverage methods. Vascular thromboses were found in 3 patients with wound treatment by dressing change and 5 by VAC. All replants of two groups of patients survived after salvage procedures. The wound score was 3.6 ± 0.7 in the conventional dressing change group and 5.8 ± 0.7 in the VAC group at the sixth day after treatment, respectively. The intervals between wound treatment and secondary wound coverage procedure were 12.0 ± 1.7 days in the dressing change group and 6.1 ± 0.7 days in the VAC group. Flaps were applied for wound coverage in 9 out of 18 (50.0%) wounds in the dressing change group and 5 out of 26 (19.2%) in the VAC group (P < 0.05), when the wounds of rest of patients were covered by the skin graft. The results showed that VAC could promote the growth of granulation tissue of wound, decrease the need of flap for wound coverage, and did not change the survival of replantation.