Negative Pressure Wound Therapy: The Future of Wound Healing – Part Three

In the final part of this three-part NPWT educational series offered in partnership with ExtriCARE USA, we examine the direction in which this therapy is heading, what new data and clinical studies tell us about its future utilization, and how it has the potential to become the first line of defense in preventative wound care.

The future of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is bright and promising. Part one and two of this series dove into the history and current use of NPWT, setting us up for the most exciting aspect of its evolution—how it is transforming the wound care industry into the future.

An abundance of recently published data, studies, and clinical trials articulate and support NPWT's potential use in non-traditional settings, such as prosthetic breast reconstruction.¹ Although this research is relatively new and happening in real-time, it significantly shows how effective NPWT can be as a preventative rather than a reactive wound care treatment.

NPWT is becoming more prevalent, and innovations will set the tone for the market based on the patient’s needs. There should be a higher focus on solutions that bridge the gap between traditional and single-use NPWT (sNPWT), opening the doors for more preventative usage to be explored.

Innovation Through Hybrid Technology

Hybrid negative pressure wound therapy (hNPWT) is a game-changing solution for clinicians, patients, and the industry as a whole. A hybrid model supports the continuation of traditional NPWT while bolstering non-traditional, preventative NPWT.

Hybrid negative pressure is a cross between traditional and sNPWT. Through hNPWT, clinicians can utilize conventional and incisional management dressings with one pump. This allows them to bring wounds to closure, a big step forward from traditional NPWT. Having this level of adaptability is essential as wound care becomes more home-based for patients.

This model can make clinicians feel more comfortable using NPWT because they have different dressing and canister options depending on their experience level. The goal is to give clinicians the adaptability to provide a continuum of care to meet their patients' needs.

In addition to improvements with NPWT pumps, there are advancements in wound dressings, such as silicone-based incisional management dressings and antimicrobial contact layers. New pump technology paired with new dressing options delivers a more optimal patient healing experience.

Although there are progressions with NPWT pumps and dressings, the standard for pressure settings has not evolved much over the last decade. New research should determine the best pressure settings to reach the desired wound healing results.

As medicine and nursing shift, it is now looking at a cellular level of how cells respond to different pressures. As more data emerges about end tissue perfusion and how negative pressures influence wound healing as a whole, we will see more adjustments and updated standards on pressure settings.

NPWT as the First Line of Defense

The appropriate time to employ NPWT as a treatment option may need to be discussed more. There may be more scenarios in which it is used as a preventative solution. For example, even a healthy young person who has been in a sporting accident can use NPWT. Nearly anyone at any age can utilize this treatment for protecting and healing almost any wound.

Different modalities of negative pressure are increasing the scope of its use. Through hNPWT, a clinician can now treat a surgical incisional site or a full-thickness wound with the same pump. According to a report from Future Market Insights, NPWT usage will grow by more than $3 billion in the next few years, with an increased focus on portable and disposable NPWT devices on single-use, incisional line management. Hybrid negative pressure wound therapy is the future of NPWT.

NPWT in sports medicine

Negative pressure has recently been used to treat and heal sports injuries using a bolstering effect. Clinicians can use sNPWT or hNPWT with silicone incisional dressings to administer the therapy to these athletes. Negative pressure and suction bring blood flow to the damaged area to heal the tissue faster. Essentially, it is compression therapy at the skin level. There have been new clinical trials showing NPWT use with soft tissue injuries.²

NPWT in elective surgery

Adding NPWT as part of the postoperative care plan may become more routine heading into the future. NPWT use may increase for cosmetic surgeries, burn victims and skin grafts, tummy tucks, and more. This treatment therapy could provide patients with a better quality of life by returning them to their daily life quicker. In a study by Jiang et al,³ the authors found that those who received NPWT (vs not receiving NPWT) experienced a more effective integration of skin grafts.

Using NPWT may also decrease the prevalence of postoperative complications, reduce readmissions secondary to infection, and protect and heal the wound. This is a considerable cost-savings because readmissions to acute care are a cost burden to the healthcare system.

The Prevalence of Diabetes

The NPWT market is evolving, and although there are many opportunities for preventative use, traditional NPWT will also continue to grow. Specifically, it could become the gold treatment for diabetic wounds, frequently used in patients with diabetic foot ulcerations (DFUs).⁴ According to the International Diabetes Federation, diabetic wounds are predicted to grow over 30% in the next 20 years.⁵

This is where hybrid technology can play a substantial role in connecting traditional and sNPWT. A clinician can use one pump on a patient with a diabetic wound and then use that same pump on a surgical incision. Additionally, the rollout of smaller, portable pumps could enhance basic activities of daily living standards (ADLs), which may help patients better adhere to medical direction.

A Patient-Centric Future

With innovations on the horizon, these developments should cater to improving the patient’s quality of life and wound healing experience. Device technology could extract more data and information from the patient, aligning with telehealth so doctors and clinicians can receive real-time information from their patients. The data can help determine the most appropriate treatment plan for the patients’ specific wound scenario.

Making NPWT More Accessible

As the market continues to grow, key players need to consider making this budding therapy more feasible. Manufacturers should continue to think of innovative solutions to reduce costs, and insurance companies should follow suit with covering the costs in each modality subset. As NPWT increases in utilization, we as an industry must ask ourselves, “How can we heal more types of wounds, and how can we heal them quicker?”

Looking ahead, we firmly believe negative pressure will become the first line of defense in wound healing. More and more data show that NPWT decreases healing time, protects the wound, and improves the quality of care while reducing costs. We see the potential of this therapy unraveling before us, and we are excited to be at the forefront of it.

About ExtriCARE USA:

ExtriCARE USA is a national medical device distribution company specializing in negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). Our products save clinicians time and benefit patients by introducing mobile solutions and providing a more flexible therapy. To learn more, visit www.extricareusa.com.

References:

1. Chicco M, Huang TC, Cheng HT. Negative-pressure wound therapy in the prevention and management of complications from prosthetic breast reconstruction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Plast Surg. 2021;87(4):478-483. doi:10.1097/SAP.0000000000002722
2. Lee HJ, Kim JW, Oh CW, et al. Negative pressure wound therapy for soft tissue injuries around the foot and ankle. J Orthop Surg Res. 2009;4:14. doi:10.1186/1749-799X-4-14
3. Jiang ZY, Yu XT, Liao XC, et al. Negative-pressure wound therapy in skin grafts: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Burns. 2021;47(4):747-755. doi:10.1016/j.burns.2021.02.012
4. Borys S, Hohendorff J, Frankfurter C, Kiec-Wilk B, Malecki MT. Negative pressure wound therapy use in diabetic foot syndrome-from mechanisms of action to clinical practice. Eur J Clin Invest. 2019;49(4):e13067. doi:10.1111/eci.13067
5. Wound Closure Market – Increasing prevalence of diabetes and diabetes associated ulcers are expected to fuel the growth of market. Medgadget. Published September 29, 2021. Accessed October 25, 2021. https://www.medgadget.com/2021/09/wound-closure-market-increasing-prevalence-of-diabetes-and-diabetes-associated-ulcers-are-expected-to-fuel-the-growth-of-market.html.