Vacuum assisted Closure in wound management – Poor man’s VAC©

Abstract

Vacuum assisted closure has reformed the plastic surgery practice and wound management in the last decade and has become an established method of wound management. The equipment though not inexpensive has become an essential part of all major plastic surgery departments in the western world. In ideal world VAC Dressing equipment should be available at hand at all times and to every patient in need , but the shortage of equipment in developed countries , or even unavailability in developing world is a common phenomenon . most plastic surgeons would agree that they have at times delayed or postponed surgeries at some point in their career because of delay in procurement of VAC equipment . We describe a new method of wound VAC dressing application without using the standard VAC equipment from material readily available to any surgeon and present our experience of 7 cases where negative suction dressing was applied without use of standard equipment . INTRODUCTION The vac dressing and the equipment sandardised by the KCI has provided a great tool in the complex field of wound management The technique has been well advertised by the company’s’ marketing team and owing to the significant benefits and good clinical outcomes it has been well supported by various experts its versatility and efficacy is well documented in the medical literature . Vacuum assisted closure has reformed the plastic surgery practice and wound management in the last decade and has become an established method of wound management. The equipment though expensive has become an essential part of all major plastic surgery departments in the western world . In ideal world VAC Dressing equipment should be available at hand at all times and to every patient in need , but the shortage of equipment in developed countries , or even unavailability in developing world is a common phenomenon . Most plastic surgeons would agree that they have at times delayed or postponed surgeries at some point in their career because of delay in procurement of VAC equipment . We describe a new method of wound VAC dressing application without using the standard VAC equipment, from material readily available to any surgeon OBJECTIVE To evaluate alternate method of negative suction dressing application and its effectiveness. METHODS We applied negative suction sponge dressing to selected wounds which would have been difficult to manage by conventional dressings and where standard VAC equipment use was indicated. MATERIALS NEEDED Sponge foam ( needs to be sterilised ) 1. Romovac or similar 18 fr drain 2. Opsite or similar material 3. Gelonet / Bactigras / mepitel or similar dressing 4.