Negative Pressure Wound Therapy versus Traditional Dressing in Posterior Spinal Surgery

Introduction: Spine surgical site infections are serious complications with significant morbidity and economic burden. Negative pressure wound therapy has recently become popular in treating open wounds. This study aimed to compare the incidence of infections between patients treated with negative pressure wound therapy and traditional sterile dressing/closed suction drain after posterior spinal surgery. Methodology: This was a retrospective study of patients in Chong Hua Hospital from May 2011, to May 2021. The patients treated from May 2011 to December 2016 received traditional dressing and those treated from January 2017 to May 2021 received NPWT. The rates of post-operative wound dehiscence, postoperative seroma, erythema, and pain were compared. Results: A total of 324 patients were included with 194 patients under the traditional dressing group and 130 under negative pressure wound therapy group. Six patients in the traditional dressing group and two in the NPWT group developed SSIs. All six patients in the NPWT group had risk factors for infection such as presence of multiple comorbidities and increased BMI, whereas the two patients in the traditional dressing group had no documented risk factors. All patients from the NPWT group achieved clean closed post-operative sites after debridement and antibiotic treatment whereas one patient from the traditional dressing group underwent a revision surgery. Conclusion: Results were comparable between the two groups. While NPWT showed promise in achieving a clean wound, these results should be interpreted with caution due the small sample size. Further research is needed.