Wound vacuum-assisted closure as a bridge therapy in the treatment of infected cranial gunshot wound in a pediatric patient: illustrative case

BACKGROUND: The authors reported the first pediatric case of a craniocerebral gunshot injury successfully treated with a wound vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) device after dehiscence and infection of the initial cranial wound. OBSERVATIONS: A 17-year-old boy suffered several gunshots to the left hemisphere, resulting in significant damage to the scalp, calvaria, and brain. Emergency hemicraniectomy was performed, with reconstruction of a complicated scalp wound performed at the initial surgery. The scalp was devitalized and ultimately dehisced, resulting in a cranial infection. It was treated first with a repeated attempt at primary closure, which failed because of persistent devitalized tissue, and was then treated with aggressive debridement followed by placement of a wound VAC device over the exposed brain as a bridge therapy to reconstruction. This procedure was deemed necessary given the active infection. LESSONS: The patient received delayed reconstruction with a free split-thickness skin graft and made a remarkable recovery, with cranioplasty performed 6 months later. The authors reviewed the literature on wound VAC use in cranial wound treatment and proposed it as a legitimate bridge therapy to definitive reconstruction in the setting of dirty wounds, active infection, or even hemodynamically unstable patients.