Abstract:

Background:Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is developing in 15% of diabetic patients and 3% of them have lower extremity amputation. Negative pressure wound treatment (NPWT) is a modern, noninvasive adjunctive therapy system. The aim of this study is to share our experience with the use of NPWT in our patients with DFU and to emphasize its impact on healing.  Methods:Patients who were admitted to the clinic due to DFU and who used NPWT during their treatment were retrospectively reviewed. The status of the injury before and after NPWT was evaluated by looking at the photographs taken before. The recovery status of the wounds was classified as "complete improvement", "large improvement", "partial improvement", "no improvement" and "worsening" based on the observation of two different specialists.  Results:We enrolled 13 patients to our study, whom of 8 were female and 5 were male. All our patients were treated six NBYT sessions. The mean age of the patients was 61.2 ± 5.3 years and the Wagner class was 2 in five patients, 3 in seven patients and 4 in one patient. Fifty four % of the patients had partial improvement, 39% had a significant improvement, and 8% had no improvement. With NBYT, C-reactive protein (±%: - 88,9 ± 70,3) (p <0.007), sedimentation rate (±%: - 40,7 ± 13,4) (p <0.005) and white blood cells (hücr%: - 40.6 ± 35.3) (p <0.007) levels was significantly reduced. Conclusions: According to our clinical experience we believe that effective use of NPWT will increase blood flow in DFU ulcers and may improve recovery rates by reducing proinflammatory markers and exudates and reduce amputation rates in selected patients.  

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