Negative Pressure Wound Therapy With Potential Autologous Stem Cell Therapy: The Challenge and Future of Complex Defect Healing?

The complex wound defect always needs long-term clinical intervention and flap coverage, because of massive soft tissue loss with continuous sepsis and poorest granulation tissue with the impair healing process. Here, we report a 22-year-old male who suffered a work-related high voltage electrical burn (HVEB), resulting in extensive deep tissue damage (about 12% visible 3rd-4th degree total body surface area burns) and an abdominal wall complex defect. A series of surgical operations and medical care were taken by the trauma team, including the application of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in conjunction with autologous stem cell therapy. Our results suggest that the combination of NPWT with stem cell treatment is a successful method in treating complex wound defects. This treatment was covered in observation time and wound healing was satisfactory.