Negative pressure wound therapy over two ipsilateral external skeletal fixators for management of high grade open fractures in a cat

Abstract

Case summary A 7-month-old female neutered Bengal cat was referred to the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals following unknown trauma. Clinical and radiographic examination revealed a grade IIIB open, comminuted, mid-diaphyseal fracture of the left tibia and fibula, and grade IIIB open mid-diaphyseal fractures of the left metatarsals II–V. The fractures were stabilised with tibial and metatarsal external skeletal fixators. The open wounds were initially debrided surgically using conventional dressings, resulting in a small amount of circumferential granulation tissue formation by 10 days postoperatively. Following this 10-day period of conventional wound management, negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) was applied over the external skeletal fixators and wounds. After 8 days of NPWT complete granulation tissue coverage was achieved in the tibial wound, and only small areas of two metatarsals remained exposed. The tibial wound was left to heal by second intention; a free meshed skin graft was applied to the pedal wound. Twenty weeks postoperatively, all wounds had completely healed and revision surgery with internal fixation was performed to treat a non-union of the tibia. Thirty weeks after the initial surgery, radiographic union of the tibia and metatarsals II–IV was confirmed. Relevance and novel information This is the first report of NPWT application over external fixation for the management of wounds associated with open fractures in veterinary medicine. This case was presented to introduce a novel, well-tolerated and simple technique for the management of tissue loss over an open fracture immobilised with external fixation.