Smith and Nephew-backed study shows benefits of NPWT

Smith and Nephew has helped to contribute to a new evidence review that demonstrates the positive impact negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) can have on surgical incisions.

The review of 33 published papers, which features in the Bone and Joint Research journal, has demonstrated that patients with closed surgical incisions  treated with NPWT for three to five days after surgery experience fewer wound healing complications.

Currently, NPWT is generally used in the management of complex open wounds, but this consensus could increase awareness of the technique's ability to reduce post-surgical complications in high-risk patients, as well as minimise the related costs involved.

The paper's co-authors are currently also completing independent investigator-initiated studies with Pico, Smith and Nephew's single-use NPWT system.

Dr Robin Martin, a co-author of the paper and director of clinical sciences at Smith and Nephew, said: "Single-use NPWT devices such as Smith and Nephew's Pico mean that the lower cost of therapy can create many more opportunities for building clinical evidence in large randomised studies."

This comes after the company helped to raise UK awareness of pressure ulcers and the means of treating them on November 21st 2013 to mark Worldwide Stop Pressure Ulcer Day.