Smith & Nephew: NPWT Summit and Survey Results

Smith & Nephew has recently reported the results of a survey of participants at its first North American Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Summit outlining a pathway to greater adoption of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). At the event, entitled, “Unlocking the Potential of NPWT, ” 115 participants discussed new clinical research and issues relevant to helping patients with traumatic, chronic and post-surgical wounds. Results from the survey indicate that NPWT plays a key role in driving wound care costs down and improving outcomes.

Smith & Nephew indicated that the survey included responses from 92 participants. Some of the results include:

• 91% are actively seeking to implement innovative wound treatments that will lower costs and improve patient outcomes.
• 89% believe that up to 75% of all wounds they treat could be treated more effectively with NPWT.
• 82% agree that improved healing is NPWT’s greatest benefit to patient care; 11% said that the greatest benefit was shortened length of stay. (The survey technology allowed for only one response per question.)
• And 76% agree that it is important for NPWT to expand beyond its current use.

When asked which single factor could expand access to NPWT in their facilities, 39% of participants indicated that reduced cost would help the most, followed by ease of implementation of treatment (26%) and easier access to the technology (22%). The top three factors that would increase the individual clinician’s use of NPWT were improved patient access to NPWT (39%), reduced cost (32%) and increased clinical indications (11%).

Patricia Burns, VP for clinical affairs in Smith & Nephew’s Advanced Wound Management told OTW, “While NPWT has traditionally been used to treat chronic and traumatic wounds, the development of smaller devices also enables the therapy to be applied with greater effectiveness to surgical incisions, with the potential to improve the control of surgical site infections. At the Summit, Sudheer Karlakki (consultant orthopedic and arthroplasty surgeon at Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Hospital and Spire Yale Private Hospital located in the UK) presented the growing body of evidence that NPWT can benefit closed incisions, particularly in orthopedic, cardiothoracic, abdominal and plastic surgery. Since the first paper on incisional NPWT by Dr. James Stannard in 2006, nine papers have been published on applications in orthopedic surgery, and there is RCT evidence for reduction in dehiscence and infection in orthopedic trauma and sternal incisions.”

“Dr. Karlakki also noted that, in some cases, the trend toward earlier hospital discharge creates greater potential for superficial infections to develop into deep infections in patients. But surgical results can become more predictable through improved wound healing with NPWT, and he stressed the need for greater clinical productivity in this area.”

“Our survey pointed to cost, access, and ease of implementation, and clinical indications as the key barriers to greater adoption across the clinical spectrum. Smith & Nephew sees these as key areas for innovation in NPWT going forward.”