Management of complex wounds with large skin defects presents a real challenge for orthopedic or reconstructive surgeons. We developed a simple skin stretching system associated with vacuum sealing drainage to examine the efficiency and complication. A total of 34 patients with different types of complex wounds were retrospectively included from January 2015 to March 2021. All patients in the study were underwent the treatment by 2 stages. The method was used to the wounds from 4.71 to 169.65 cm2 with a median defect size of 25.13 cm2. The median time for wound closure was 11.5 days (range: 5-32 days), although the median absolute reduction was 2.08 cm2/day (range: 0.15-25.66 cm2/day). Depending on the site of the wounds, the cause of the wound, and the rate of max-width/max-length (W/L), these complex wounds could be separately divided into several groups. There were statistically significant differences in the median value of the above variables (P < .05 Kruskal-Wallis test). The results showed that different anatomical sites had different viscoelastic properties, the complex wounds caused by trauma were easier to close than caused by diabetic foot and the complex wounds in group A (W/L ＞ 0.5) were more difficult to close than in group B (W/L ≤ 0.5). No major complications were encountered in this study. In summary, the results of our study showed that the simple skin stretching system associated with vacuum sealing drainage was a safe approach for closure of complex wounds. Nevertheless, more attention should be paid to the viscoelasticity of the wounds to ensure closure and avoid undue complications when applying the method.
Keywords: a simple skin stretching system; complex wounds; vacuum sealing drainage.