Effect of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in Electrical Burns

• Main Authors: Viviana Gómez-Ortega, MD, María José Vergara-Rodriguez, MD, Bibiana Mendoza, MD, Tatiana García, MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer 2021-02-01
• Series: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open
• Online Access: http://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/10.1097/GOX.0000000000003383

Summary:. Electrical burns are capable of damaging cells through both thermal and nonthermal mechanisms. The complexity of these wounds, the deterioration in time, and the conversion during the first days make managing them a challenge. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a technology that can be used as a tool to improve outcomes in patients with burns in the acute and reconstructive phases of the treatment. We describe 2 cases in which we apply this technology in electrical injuries. We present 2 cases of patients with electrical burns who underwent NPWT with instillation (NPWTi) with saline solution in the acute phase, to block the conversion of the burn and to improve the granulation tissue and in the reconstructive phase, as a tool to improve the grafts take. Both patients showed early formation of granulation tissue adequate for surgical reconstruction, and neither of them presented loss of skin grafts. In the acute phase, NPWT with instillation when applied in these patients showed fast formation of granulation tissue adequate for early reconstruction, whereas NPWT in the reconstructive phase when applied to bolster grafts showed improvements in grafts take. NPWT is a useful tool to support the surgical management of the electrical injuries during the acute phase to prepare the wound for early reconstruction and after the skin grafts reconstruction to improve the grafts take.