Effects of negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwell time (NPWTi‐d) versus NPWT or standard of care in orthoplastic surgery: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a wound‐dressing system that applies sub‐atmospheric pressure on the surface of a wound to promote healing. An evolution of this technology, NPWT with solution instillation and dwell time (NPWTi‐d), is increasingly being used to maximise wound closure and reduce failure rates. However, there is still a lack of evidence concerning its use in orthoplastic surgery. Therefore, the aim of this study is to compare NPWTi‐d with NPWT and standard of care for wound management in orthoplastic surgery. A comprehensive literature search using PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases up to 15 March 2022 was performed, including studies describing the outcomes of NPWTi‐d for traumatic/orthopaedic injuries. A meta‐analysis on the number of surgical debridements, as well as the rate of complete wound closure and complications was carried out, although for other outcomes, a descriptive statistic was applied. Risk of bias and quality of evidence were assessed using the Downs& Black's Checklist for Measuring Quality. Thirteen studies with a total number of 871 patients were included, in which NPWTi‐d demonstrated significantly higher primary wound closure and lower complication rates (P < .05). No difference in the number of surgical procedures required for final wound healing was observed. Moreover, five out of six studies showed better results for NPWTi‐d when the change of the bioburden and bacterial count of the wound were analysed. A singular study investigating the length of the hospital stay of patients treated with NPWTi‐d showed a reduction in the latter. The present meta‐analysis proves that NPWTi‐d is superior to NPTW or conventional dressings in orthoplastic wound care management, in terms of complete wound closure rate and the reduced number of complications. Still, the limited quality of the studies analysed shows that future randomised studies are needed to confirm the benefits and to identify the most appropriate recommendations for using NPWTi‐d in orthoplastic surgery, as well as to investigate the cost‐effectiveness of this wound‐dressing system.