Wide topical negative pressure wound dressing treatment for patients undergoing abdominal dermolipectomy following massive weight loss

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Adrian Dragu - , University Center for Orthopedics, Trauma and Plastic Surgery, University Hospital at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Stefan Schnürer - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Frank Unglaub - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Maya B. Wolf - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Justus P. Beier - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Ulrich Kneser - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Raymund E. Horch - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)

Abstract

Postbariatric plastic surgery is considered to be a high-risk procedure, which entails such frequent minor complications as postoperative seroma, bleeding and wound dehiscence. These occur with a high incidence, especially, following postbariatric abdominal dermolipectomy. In order to reduce these complication rates, a new type of dressing with wide abdominal topical negative pressure (TNP) application was applied. We performed abdominal dermolipectomy in 23 obese patients. The average body mass index was 32.8 kg/m 2, and the median age of the patients was 42.9 years. Ten patients received conventional standard dressings (control group I), whereas the other 13 patients received a wide TNP dressing including the ventral and lateral trunk (negative pressure group II). Postoperative exudate volumes were collected, tallied and documented for each group separately until all drains could be removed. The conventionally treated control group (I) showed a significantly higher postoperative secretion volume compared with the negative pressure group (II). In addition, the average time to postoperative final drain removal was significantly lower in the negative pressure group (II) compared with the control group (I). The results indicate that widely applied external TNP wound dressing on the ventral and lateral trunk following postbariatric abdominal dermolipectomy leads to a significant reduction in exudate formation, enables early drain removal and thus, decreases length of hospitalization.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1781-1786
Number of pages6
JournalObesity surgery : including laparoscopy and allied care
Volume21
Issue number11
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2011
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 21110232
ORCID /0000-0003-4633-2695/work/145698681

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Dermolipectomy, Dressing, Massive weight loss, Seroma, Topical negative pressure