The Clinical Study Of The Improved Vacuum-assisted Closure Therapy On Diabetic Foot Wound

ObjectiveTo observe the clinical and cost effects of the improved vacuum-assisted closure therapy on the wound treatment of diabetic foot (DF)Methods64 diabetic foot (DF) patients with 2 ～ 4 grade from a 3A grade hospital were randomly divided into two groups, the improved VAC group and the control group. The diabetic foot ulcers were treated by modified vacuum-assisted closure therapy in the improved VAC group. And the control group was cured by the moist wound dressing. To observe the comparison of the two groups in reducing the wound infection, promoting the growth of granulation tissue, epithelial crawling, wound shrinking rate, the dressing time and the cost.Results1. The infection of improved VAC group and control group are 3.3% and 21.2% after 4 weeks’intervention, respectively. The difference of the infection rate of VAC group and control group is significant (P<0.05), indicating that the antibacterial effect of VAC group was better than control group.2. There was no significance in granulation tissue coverage between the two groups after 1 week’intervention (P> 0.05).However, the granulation tissue coverage in two groups show statistical difference after 2 weeks (p<0.05)3. The difference of epithelial crawling time between the two groups was statistically significant in the 2nd week and the 4th week (P<0.05), showing that the treatment of VAC group was better than the control group.4. Wound area reduced rate of the VAC group was higher in the 2nd week and the 4th week (P<0.05).5. There was significance in the total times of dressing change between the two groups (p<0.05). The total times of dressing change in VAC group were less than the control group because of long time interval.6. The study shows that the cost of VAC group in dressing was less than that of control group. And there was significance on cost between the two groups (p<0.05).ConclusionsThe effects of curing diabetic foot with 2～4 grade by modified VAC dressing way is remarkable, which is better than using the moist dressing. It can reduce the infection rate, speed up the new epithelium, promote the growth of granulation tissue, shrink the wound area, reduce the switching time and the treatment cost, etc.