Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT)

An estimate was also made of the present use and cost of this technology, from the point of view of the MUHC. [...] The Programme for Wound Care should be encouraged to undertake an RCT to evaluate the effectiveness of NPWT and its influence on length of hospital stay and costs for the treatment of pressure ulcers, necrotising fasciitis, and wounds complicated by osteomyelitis. [...] OBJECTIVE To systematically review any new evidence on the subject of the health effects of NPWT, and to estimate the costs of this treatment based on the published literature and the experience of users of this technology at the MUHC. [...] Accordingly we compared the cost of this treatment to the cost of the wound treatments that would be employed if NPWT was not available. [...] By 112 days 43% of the wounds were healed in the NPWT treated group versus 29% in the control group.