Abstract:

COMPARISON OF NEGATIVE PRESSURE WOUND THERAPY, SILVER COATED FOAM DRESSINGS AND CONVENTIONAL BANDAGES FOR OPEN WOUND MANAGEMENT IN THE DOG

Accepted for publication in Veterinary Comparative Orthopedics and Trauma in November 2014.

Mirja Nolff, Munich, Germany; Michael Fehr, Hannover, Germany; Anika Bolling, Hannover, Germany; Ricarda Dening, Hannover, Germany; Sabine Kramer, Hannover, Germany; Sven Reese, Munich, Germany; Andrea Meyer-Lindenberg, Munich, Germany

Researchers were from: Clinic for Small Animal Surgery and Reproduction; Department for Veterinary Medicine Small Animal Clinic; Department for Basic Veterinary Sciences; Department for Veterinary Medicine; Clinic for Small Animal Surgery and Reproduction

Presented Friday, May 15, 2015
Free Paper Session: Negative Pressure Wound Therapy

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) for treatment of complicated wounds in dogs and to compare it to standard wound therapy.

Method: Dogs (n=50) undergoing open wound treatment in two veterinary centers were classed according to treatment method: bandage (Group A, n= 7), NPWT (Group B, n=18), and foam dressing (Group C, n=25). Pairs of patients matched based on wound conformation, localization and underlying cause were compared between Group A and C (n=7 each) and between groups B and C (n=18 each) in terms of duration of previous treatment, time to closure and complications.

Results / Discussion: Signalment, antibiotic and antiseptic treatment and bacterial status were comparable between groups. The duration of previous treatment was significantly higher in patients assigned to Group B (p=0.04) compared to Group C, while no statistically significant difference was found between groups A and B. Total time to wound closure was significantly shorter in Group C compared to Group A (p=0.02) and in Group B compared to Group C (p = 0.003). NPWT treated wounds suffered significantly less complications (p=0.008) and were significantly less septic during treatment (p=0.016) than wounds treated with a foam dressing.

Conclusion: This study shows that time to healing was halved in NPWT treated animals compared to foam dressing treated patients, which in turn healed faster than patients treated with conventional bandage, underlining the value of NPWT therapy for the treatment of complicated wounds.