title: Negative pressure wound therapy: treating a venomous insect bite.
abstract: Reports of spider bites appear throughout North America. Bites associated with the brown recluse spider (Loxosceles recluse) cause serious medical complications because the venom of this spider contains a powerful necrotising agent with the potential to cause severe cutaneous necrosis. Although not much is known regarding the application of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) to spider bites, this therapy has considerable literature support for its efficacy, cost-effectiveness and ease of use in chronic, difficult-to-heal wounds. A case study using NPWT to successfully treat a non healing upper arm wound presumed due to a venomous spider bite is presented here. The patient was successfully treated with a new, less costly NPWT product called the Versatile 1 and a new combination drain plus dressing called the Miller DermiVex drain, both manufactured by Blue Sky Medical (Carlsbad, CA).
authors.affiliation: The Wound Healing Center, Terre Haute, IN 47807-5015, USA. doc@docmillers.com
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ortegon
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McDaniel
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011312:Pressure; D017592:Skin Care / Q000379:methods*; D001098:Spider Bites / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013111:Spider Venoms / Q000009:adverse effects; D013396:Suction / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D013111:Spider Venoms