Wound Dressings for Obese Women After Cesarean Delivery —Reply

In Reply Drs Vo and Richards express concerns about the difference in duration of the prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy device vs standard wound dressing in our recent study involving obese women after cesarean delivery. As a pragmatic trial, our study compared effects of typical use of prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy and standard wound dressing. The average duration of use of prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy was 4 days, which is within the 2 to 7 days recommended by the manufacturer. Similarly, consistent with practice in most clinical settings in the US, the duration of standard wound dressing was 24 to 48 hours, and new dressings were not placed after the initial dressing was removed, unless there was a complication such as wound dehiscence. Therefore, the differences in duration of prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy and standard wound dressing in the trial were by design and do not represent confounding.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research