Using a vacuum to treat diabetic foot wounds holds great promise, Illinois researchers say in the British journal Lancet.
David Armstrong of the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences in North Chicago, Ill., said his team found that negative pressure wound therapy, also known as vacuum-assisted closure is an important tool to prevent diabetic foot wounds from turning into amputations.
"The results of this study suggest strongly that this technology can take very complex wounds and greatly simplify them," Armstrong said. "This is the first large-scale study to lend support to this mechanism of therapy."
The therapy that treats diabetic foot wounds within a vacuum increases healing as much as 40 percent, reduces formation of bacteria and requires fewer dressing changes than standard treatments, other research has found.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
