Medical technology company Kinetic Concepts (KCI) has initiated patient enrollment in a multi-center clinical study that will assess the advantages of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) with intermittent instillation therapy with a topical wound cleanser.
Conducted across six investigative centers in the US, the randomized, controlled prospective study compares traditional NPWT with V.A.C. Negative Pressure Wound Therapy to adjunctive treatment with V.A.C. VeraFlo Instillation Therapy using the V.A.C.Ulta Negative Pressure Wound Therapy System for wounds that require the patients to be admitted to hospital and for a serial surgical debridement.
Recently, an independent retrospective, cohort-controlled study was presented at the 2013 Technology Innovations in Plastic Surgery meeting in San Francisco, California by physicians from MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Center for Wound Healing.
This study, which involved 142 patients, assessed the effectiveness of NPWT with V.A.C. Therapy as against V.A.C. VeraFlo Instillation Therapy using the V.A.C.Ulta Negative Pressure Wound Therapy System in the adjunctive treatment of wounds that required hospital admission and serial surgical debridement.
Results from this study showed a drastic decline in operating room visits for study patients who received V.A.C. VeraFlo Instillation Therapy using the V.A.C.Ulta Negative Pressure Wound Therapy System.
Moreover, the researchers saw a two- to three-day reduction in hospital stay compared to traditional V.A.C. Therapy in these patients.
KCI chief medical officer Ron Silverman noted that because of the encouraging Georgetown University study results, the company is initiating a study that will take a more careful look at the negative pressure wound therapy with intermittent dwelling of instillation.
"This study further demonstrates the KCI commitment to and investment in the new future of NPWT with instillation therapy and better treatment solutions for our customers and patients," Silverman added.
