Prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy on wound complications after cesarean delivery in women with obesity: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials aimed to assess whether negative pressure wound therapy affects the rate of wound complications when applied to women with obesity after cesarean delivery compared with standard postoperative dressings. DATA SOURCES: This research used PubMed, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials as electronic databases, from the inception of each database to January 2021, with randomized controlled trial as the publication type. There was no restriction applied for language or geographic location. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The selection criteria included only randomized controlled trials comparing the effect of negative pressure wound therapy with that of standard dressings on wound complications in women with obesity undergoing cesarean delivery. METHODS: The primary outcome was a wound complication composite outcome (wound infection, separation or dehiscence, hematoma, seroma, or readmission secondary to a wound concern). The wound complication composite was analyzed by counting events once per patient. The summary measures were reported as relative risk or as mean difference with 95% confidence intervals using the random-effects model of DerSimonian and Laird. An I-squared (Higgins I2) value of >0% was used to identify heterogeneity. RESULTS: Overall, 11 randomized controlled trials, which included 5746 participants with obesity undergoing cesarean delivery, were included. Of those participants, 2869 (49.9%) were randomized to the intervention group (negative pressure wound therapy), and 2877 (50.1%) were randomized to the control group (standard dressing). Prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy was not associated with a significant change in the rate of wound complications (relative risk, 1.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.81–1.23) compared with standard postoperative dressings. However, the use of negative pressure wound therapy decreased the rate of wound infections (relative risk, 0.79; 95% confidence interval, 0.66– 0.96) and increased the frequency of skin reactions (relative risk, 4.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.29–16.38). Negative pressure wound therapy did not result in a significant difference in the rate of dehiscence, hematoma, seroma, readmission, reoperation, and antibiotic use for wound infection. CONCLUSION: Compared with standard postoperative incision dressings, negative pressure wound therapy did not affect the rate of wound complications but decreased the frequency of wound infections when applied to women with obesity after cesarean delivery. However, results should be interpreted with caution, as wound infection outcome includes different definitions per the individual trials. CONDENSATION: Prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy has no effect on overall wound complications in women with obesity after cesarean delivery compared with standard dressings.