Surgical reconstruction of pressure ulcer defects: a single- or two-stage procedure?
BACKGROUND
The surgical management of pressure ulcers traditionally involved staged procedures, with initial debridement of necrotic or infected material followed by reconstruction at a later date when the wound was deemed viable and free of gross infection. However, over the past decade, it has been suggested that a single-stage procedure, combining initial debridement and definitive reconstruction, may provide advantages over staged surgery. We present our experience with the staged approach and review the current evidence for both methods.


METHODS
: We reviewed medical records of all patients referred to our service for pressure ulcer management between October 2001 and October 2007. The National Rehabilitation Hospital is the national center in Ireland for primary rehabilitation of adults and children suffering from spinal and brain injury, serving patients locally and from around the country.


METHODS
All subjects who were managed surgically underwent a 2-stage procedure, with initial debridement and subsequent reconstruction. The main outcome measures were length of hospital stay, postoperative morbidity and mortality, and time to complete ulcer healing.


RESULTS
Forty-one of 108 patients with 58 pressure ulcers were managed surgically. All patients underwent initial surgical debridement and 20 patients underwent subsequent pressure ulcer reconstruction. Postreconstructive complications occurred in 5 patients (20%). The mean time to complete ulcer healing was 17.4 weeks. Partial flap necrosis occurred in 3 patients, but there were no episodes of flap failure.


CONCLUSIONS
We achieved favorable results with a 2-stage reconstruction technique and suggest that the paucity of evidence related to single-stage procedures does not support a change in surgical management.
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin, Ireland. terezelaing@yahoo.com
Tereze A
TA
Laing
Neville
N
Ekpete
Shane
S
Oon
Sean M
SM
Carroll
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003646:Debridement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009336:Necrosis; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing