Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transplant. Dec 24, 2016; 6(4): 767-773
Published online Dec 24, 2016. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v6.i4.767
Systematic review of the negative pressure wound therapy in kidney transplant recipients
Badri Man Shrestha
Badri Man Shrestha, Sheffield Kidney Institute, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield S5 7AU, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Shrestha BM designed and wrote the review.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Part of the manuscript was published elsewhere (http://researchpub.org/journal/npwt/archives-vol1-no2.html) in 2014, but was retracted by the author. There is no conflict of interest involved.
Data sharing statement: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Badri Man Shrestha, MD, FRCS, FACS, Sheffield Kidney Institute, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU, United Kingdom. shresthabm@doctors.net.uk
Telephone: +44-11-42434343 Fax: +44-11-42714604
Received: September 25, 2016
Peer-review started: September 28, 2016
First decision: October 21, 2016
Revised: October 23, 2016
Accepted: November 16, 2016
Article in press: November 18, 2016
Published online: December 24, 2016
Processing time: 80 Days and 10.6 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To review negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) as an important addition to the conventional methods of wound management.

METHODS

A systematic review, performed by searching the PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases, showed 11 case reports comprising a total of 22 kidney transplantation (KT) patients (range, 1 to 9), who were treated with NPWT. Application of NPWT was associated with successful healing of wounds, leg ulcer, lymphocele and urine leak from ileal conduit.

RESULTS

No complications related to NPWT were reported. However, there was paucity of robust data on the effectiveness of NPWT in KT recipients; therefore, prospective studies assessing its safety and efficacy of NPWT and randomised trials comparing the effectiveness of NPWT with alternative modalities of wound management in KT recipients is recommended.

CONCLUSION

Negative pressure incision management system, NPWT with instillation and endoscopic vacuum-assisted closure system are in investigational stage.

Keywords: Negative pressure; Wound therapy; Kidney transplantation; Wound infection; Wound dehiscence

Core tip: Systematic review of the safety and efficacy of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in kidney transplant (KT) recipients revealed 11 case reports, which have shown the effective role NPWT in the management of wound dehiscence, lymphocele, urine leak from ileal conduits and leg ulcers. Because of the lack of robust evidence on the safety and efficacy of NPWT in KT patients, prospective multicentre studies recruiting large number of patients is recommended to examine the role of NPWT in the treatment of wound-related complications in KT recipients. The efficacy of negative pressure incision management system, NPWT with instillation and endoscopic vacuum-assisted closure system remain in investigational stage.