Effectiveness of Preventive Negative Pressure Wound Therapy for Postoperative Wound Management in Cases of Lower Gastrointestinal Perforation

Abstract

Surgical site infection (SSI) developing after lower gastrointestinal tract perforation surgery can lead to prolonged hospital stay and increase medical expenses. Recently, the effectiveness of preventive negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) for preventing SSI has been studied. At our department, we performed primary wound closure in 63 cases undergoing lower gastrointestinal tract perforation surgery, and the incidence rate of SSI was 21 cases (33.3％). Considering this high incidence rate, we introduced preventive NPWT and performed primary wound closure for 8 cases from January 2018 to August 2018. Of these 8 cases, only 1 developed SSI, indicating that performing preventive NPWT in cases undergoing lower gastrointestinal tract perforation surgery may be effective for preventing SSI. Hence, the selection criteria and management method necessary for performing preventive NPWT should be investigated.