Negative pressure wound therapy for burn patients: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Abstract

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), which has been applied in various medical specialties to accelerate wound healing, has been the object of a few investigations. We explored the effectiveness of NPWT and the possibility of its inclusion in burn management guidelines. Randomised controlled trials comparing NPWT with non-NPWT treatments for burn wounds were extracted from PubMed. For the risk of bias analysis, all included studies were evaluated according to the Cochrane risk of bias tool and the approaches outlined in the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) Handbook. Outcomes such as graft take rate in the first week, infection rate, and overall complication rate were analysed. Six studies that included a total of 701 patients met our inclusion criteria. Qualitative analysis revealed that the NPWT group had a significantly better overall graft rate in the first week (P = 0.001) and a significantly lower infection rate (P = 0.04). No significant difference in the overall complication rate was found. Our results indicate that NPWT is a safe method for stimulating healing and lowering the infection rate of burn wounds. NPWT can be part of general burn management, and its incorporation into burn treatment guidelines is recommended.