| Summary: | Surgical site infections and complications (SSI,
SSC) are relatively rare but potentially devastating events;
particularly in cardiac surgery because of the importance of
the structures involved.
In accordance with the main international guidelines, that
recommend the use of negative pressure therapy in closed
surgical wounds (ciNPWT) in high-risk patients, we selected
a group of 112 patients at high risk of developing surgical site
complications, presenting in the clinic from January 2018 to
December 2019.
We applied 165 single-use negative pressure dressings in our
cohort and kept them for seven days ( 1). All the wounds were
closed by primary intention without edema or hematoma. Three
cases of postoperative bleeding required us to pause the negative
pressure therapy. After discharge, five patients at particularly
high risk developed sternal wound dehiscence.
In conclusion, the use of ciNPWT, applied following a
dedicated algorithm, gave good results in the prevention of SSI
or SSC. Some limitations in the results are determined by the
specific requirements of cardiac surgery.
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