title: Retinervus luffae fructus (RLF): a novel material for use in negative pressure wound therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe a modified negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) apparatus, made mainly of an environmentally-friendly material derived from the retinervus luffae fructus (RLF; or loofah) plant.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients with skin defects on their limbs who underwent treatment with the RLF-NPWT device from September 2012 to October 2012. The endpoint of the study was healing by secondary intention; the time (days) to endpoint was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The RLF-NPWT device was used in 16 patients. The age of the patients ranged from 15-82 years, with a mean age of 43 ± 17 years. Six patients sustained crush injuries, nine patients had open limb injuries from motor vehicle accidents and a further patient had a diabetic foot ulcer. The mean time to healing was 8.5 ± 2.4 days. Following RLF-NPWT, fresh granulation tissue was observed in all wound beds, with no evidence of macroscopical necrosis. All 16 patients in the study achieved secondary healing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The environmentally friendly RLF-NPWT apparatus is easy to use and able to provide continual negative pressure for optimal preparation of the wound bed. The cost-effectiveness of RLF-NPWT compared to standard NPWT requires further investigation.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  There were no external sources of funding for this study. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
authors: MD, Surgical Residen, Department of Orthopaedics, Jinling General Hospital, Nanjing, JiangSu, China.
authors: H Y
authors: HY
authors: Zuo
authors: MD, Associate Chief Physician; Department of Orthopaedics, Jinling General Hospital, Nanjing, JiangSu, China.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D029776:Luffa; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D054843:Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*