Effectiveness of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in preventing incisional surgical site infection after stoma closure: a single institutional retrospective study.

Purpose: Recent findings suggest that utilizing negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) concurrently with stoma closure may decrease the risk of incisional surgical site infection (iSSI). However, the specific impact of NPWT on iSSI after stoma closure remains unclear. This study investigated the impact of NPWT on SSI after stoma closure.

Methods: Between January, 2010 and December, 2022, 185 patients underwent stoma closure at our hospital. Multivariate analysis was conducted to identify the risk factors for iSSI, using logistic regression analysis. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to balance the effect of potential co-factors of stoma closure with and without NPWT, on the incidence of superficial SSIs.

Results: Multivariate analysis identified that the absence of NPWT was an independent risk factor for iSSIs (Odds ratio [OR]: 11.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.88-64.9; P = 0.0078). Following cohort matching, the NPWT-absence and NPWT-presence groups comprised 54 patients each. The incisional SSI rate was significantly lower in the NPWT-presence group than in the NPWT-absence group (0.9%; n = 1 vs. 7.4%; n = 8, respectively; OR: 9.2; 95% CI 1.11-76.4; P = 0.04).

Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrated that stoma closure with NPWT reduced the SSI rates remarkably. Therefore, NPWT should be considered for stoma closure procedures.