Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen

Summary

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued full guidance to the NHS in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen.

There is a national audit of the management of the open abdomen, to investigate the occurrence of intestinal fistulae with and without negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT).

Anonymised data on all patients with an open abdomen between 1^st January 2010 – June 30th 2011 (whether treated with NPWT or not) should be submitted to the HSRU portal which is managed by the University of Aberdeen and will close 16th September.

Every hospital with critical care facilities (ITU/HDU) should nominate a lead who will be responsible for electronic data submission. Please contact Gladys McPherson for login details to access the portal.

Description

Trauma or surgery to the abdomen can result in a wound that cannot be closed by traditional techniques. Such wounds can take many months to heal. In negative pressure wound therapy a foam dressing is inserted into the wound. A drainage tube is placed in the dressing and attached to a small vacuum unit that applies suction to the wound, removing excess blood and fluid. The aim is to create an environment that allows the wound to heal faster. Negative pressure wound therapy can be used for periods ranging from days to a few weeks.

OPCS4.6 Code(s):

In addition to the OPCS-4 codes used to classify the procedure performed which resulted in the open abdomen (i.e. repair of ruptured abdominal aneurysm or gastrointestinal tract surgery) the following OPCS-4 codes are assigned to indicate that negative pressure wound therapy has been applied to the abdomen:

S57.7 Dressing of skin using vacuum assisted closure device NEC

Z92.6 Abdomen NEC

Note that it is not possible, using OPCS-4 codes, to indicate that the patient has an open abdominal wound with exposed internal organs following surgery.

_{The NHS Classifications Service of NHS Connecting for Health is the central definitive source for clinical coding guidance and determines the coding standards associated with the classifications (OPCS-4 and ICD-10) to be used across the NHS.   The NHS Classifications Service and NICE work collaboratively to ensure the most appropriate classification codes are provided.  www.connectingforhealth.co.uk/clinicalcoding}

Details

Contact details:

Links:

	IPG322 Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen: guidance (web format)	07 April 2011
	IPG322 Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen: guidance	16 December 2009
	IPG322 Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen: understanding NICE guidance	16 December 2009
	IPG322 Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen: understanding NICE guidance (MS Word format)	16 December 2009
	IPG322 Therapi pwysedd negatif (gwactod) ar gyfer abdomenau a adawyd ar agor er mwyn hwyluso'r broses wella: deall canllawiau NICE (fformat MS Word)	02 February 2010
	IPG322 Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen: consultation comments table	16 December 2009
	IPG322 Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen: audit support	02 March 2010
	IPG322 Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen: audit consultation comments table	16 December 2009
	Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen (interventional procedures consultation)	25 June 2009
	Negative pressure wound therapy for the open abdomen (interventional procedures overview)	29 June 2009