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CASE STUDY
Dehisced Lower Limb – 16-day Treatment
Patient
- 66-year-old male.
- Presented with the following co-morbidities: philiarisis, chronic regional pain syndrome, chronic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, pulmonary embolism and Waldestrom’s macroglobulinaemia.
Wound
- The wound was the result of a traumatic injury which, following the formation of a haematoma, required surgical debridement and closure by suturing. Post-surgery, the wound dehisced resulting in the need for skin grafting, which failed. A second graft also resulted in failed.
- On initial assessment, the wound measured 23cm x 4cm x 0.5cm. The wound bed consisted of approximately 95% granulation and 5% slough (Figure 1).
- The patient reported wound-associated pain as measuring a 6 (using a scale of 0–10 where 0= no pain and 10 the worst pain possible).
Management & Results
- The patient received a total of 16 days of NPWT during which time the wound made progress and the patient’s pain levels decreased in line with healing; from 6 to 2. Only one pump was needed for the duration of treatment, presenting an advantage over other single-use disposable NPWT systems available.
- The wound responded rapidly with a marked reduction in depth.
- Despite multiple co-morbidities, the wound healed from the base upwards and the wound edges advanced rapidly.
- The Avelle™ NPWT System supported the healing of a complex static wound of a patient with multiple comorbidities.
- The Hydrofiber® Technology wound contact layer in the Avelle™ NPWT Dressing provided fluid handling that prevented lateral spread of exudate on the peri-wound skin

Figure 1: Wound on day 1

Figure 2: Wound on day 7

Figure 3: Wound on day 18 following break in NPWT