Treatment of open upper limb injuries with infection prevention and negative pressure wound therapy: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Open upper limb injuries requiring soft reconstruction can pose a dilemma for trauma surgeons when considering the treatment options. The British Orthopaedic Association and British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons Standard for Trauma (BOAST) have addressed the management of severe open lower limb fractures with the creation of the BOAST 4 guidelines. However, no such gold standard exists for the treatment of open injuries of the upper limb. Furthermore, treatment of these injuries is often more difficult and requires complicated strategies. Since the advent of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), there has been an improvement in wound care, though a focused review of its use in wound closure and infection prevention in the upper limb has not been published. We examine wound care management for open upper limb injuries with regard to the dressings applied, NPWT, wound closure and infection prevention.

METHOD: A systematic search of Medline, Cochrane and Google Scholar was performed using the key words. The key word searches were performed by two independent reviewers and 8,792 papers were found. Manuscripts between 1990 and 2010 were included, with the addition of key manuscripts before this date. Each manuscript was assessed by the two authors independently for methodology and validity Results: Approximately 120 manuscripts fulfilled selection criteria examining the influence of NPWT on open upper and lower limb injuries, and those examining infection risk in the same injuries. Of these 120 manuscripts, 28 were suitable for inclusion in the review. The systematic review is presented, allied to the BOAST 4 principles, examining the use of NPWT and the tools available for infection prevention for wounds of the upper and lower limb. The use of NPWT in conjunction with antibiotic-bead therapy improved the way in which open fractures of both the upper and lower limb are treated.

CONCLUSION: Production of guidelines is warranted for the treatment of upper limb injuries. The treatment options available for wound closure and infection prevention that are used in the treatment of open injuries of the lower limb could be adopted to open injuries of the upper limb.