Single-use negative pressure wound therapy versus conventional dressings for the reduction of surgical site infections in closed surgical incisions: Systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

To evaluate whether a single-use negative pressure wound therapy (sNPWT) device can reduce the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) in at-risk patients with closed surgical incisions across a range of surgical specialties, compared with standard care.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from the period January 2011 to April 2021.

RESULTS

Out of 15,283 articles identified, 19 were included. A statistically significant improvement (p ​< ​0.05) in the composite SSI (odds ratio [OR]: 0.36; 95 ​% confidence interval [CI]: 0.27-0.49), superficial SSI (OR: 0.30; 95 ​% CI: 0.17-0.53), and deep SSI (OR: 0.67; 95 ​% CI: 0.46-0.96) outcomes was observed with the sNPWT device compared with standard care in a pooled analysis of all surgical specialties.

CONCLUSION

A -80 ​mmHg sNPWT device reduces the incidence of composite, superficial, and deep SSIs when compared with standard care across a heterogenous at-risk surgical population containing a variety of surgical specialties.