European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate speed, safety and efficacy of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) compared with moist gauge dressings (MGD) to treat foot ulcers in diabetic patients.
Materials and methods : The cases presented in this study are those patients admitted on in patient basis from general surgical wards, plastic surgery and patients with surgery reference for diabetic foot care from all other departments like medicine, orthopaedics in PMCH Patna. Study duration of Two Years. This is a prospective interventional study. In this study 30 randomly selected patients were assigned to the study group (topical negative pressure) based on their willingness for undergoing topical negative pressure dressings and 30 patients to the control group (moist gauze dressings).
Results: The 60 patients admitted for the study were divided into two equal and comparable groups of 30 patients each. All the patients in the study were suffering from diabetes of varying duration, with some on regular treatment and the others on irregular treatment. In Vacuum assisted closure/Topical negative pressure therapy maximum patients of 11 were found in the age group 41-50yrs with 36.7% and in Moist gauze dressing group also same result but the age group being 61-70. Female patients were more in VAC group, compared to male in MGD. Conclusion: Application of Topical Negative Pressure increased the rate of formation of granulation tissue and had better graft uptake, faster wound healing. It also lessen the length of hospital stay thereby improving final clinical outcome than the patients who underwent a conventional dressing for diabetic foot wounds.