Comparison of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy with Conventional Wound Dressing in Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis

ABSTRACT
Aim: Diabetic foot osteomyelitis, is one of the devastating and sophisticated complications of diabetes mellitus. Wound care and closure techniques are as important as surgical and medical treatments in the management of this unfavorable condition. Appropriate and effective wound care facilitates healing process of osteomyelitis making infected wound more responsive to medical treatment.
Methods: Between years 2016-2020, the patients with biopsy-confirmed osteomyelitis were included in the prospective study. The patients were divided into groups according to randomization. The patients with conventional wound dressing were included in group 1, while negative pressure wound therapy applied ones incuded in group 2. Demographic data (age, sex), affected bone with osteomyelitis, localization and size of wound, hospitalization length, and number of operations were recorded. To evaluate the efficacy of two different wound care applications, mean infected periods, number of operations and mean durations of hospitalization were compared.
Results: Length of hospitalization stay was 24,49 ± 16,5 in group 1 and 17,15 ± 14,7 in group 2, respectively. Besides, infected period of group 1 was 19,0 ± 16,89, while it was 17,33 ± 16,46 in group 2. Mean number of operations was 1,55 ± 1,0 in the negative pressure wound therapy applied patients, as it was 2,15 ± 1,0 in the patients with conventional wound dressing. There was a significant difference between two groups in terms of length of hospitalization and number of surgical procedures, while no statistical significance found between the infected periods.
Conclusion: Consequently, shortening in hospitalization period and lesser number of surgical procedures due to rapid healing process demonstrated the benefits of negative pressure wound therapy.
Key Words: Osteomyelitis, Diabetic foot, Negative pressure wound therapy, Vacuum assisted closure