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Heal Ukraine's wounds with 3M™ V.A.C.™ therapy

After long negotiations and approval procedure KOLO Charitable Foundation reached an agreement with Aspironix, a distributor of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) Systems manufactured by 3M, to supply 3M™ V.A.C.® therapy to Ukraine.

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The importance of this project is hard to overestimate both for the wounded and for the medical infrastructure. 

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Aspironix will supply the NPWT units and associated disposables to Ukrainian medical institutions in need of medical equipment.

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In these very complex times, management of wounds can’t wait. Using trusted and proven treatment modalities is critical to enable better healthcare for patients, more than ever. In Ukrainian hospitals, physicians are treating patients who are suffering from wounds that could benefit from using negative pressure wound therapy.

3M provides NPWT products - 3M™ V.A.C.® Therapy, which enables physicians to focus on delivering the clinical outcomes needed with safety and confidence patients can trust.

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V.A.C.® Therapy is a medical device system that creates an environment that promotes wound healing by delivering negative pressure (a vacuum) to the wound through a proprietary dressing and therapy unit. Unlike gauze bandages that merely cover a wound, V.A.C. ® Therapy works to help the wound healing process by:

• Providing a moist wound healing environment;

• Drawing wound edges together;

• Removing wound fluids and infectious materials;

• Promoting formation of the connective tissue in healing wounds.

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V.A.C.® Therapy changed the practice of medicine with its introduction in 1995. With more published clinical evidence than any other form of negative pressure wound therapy1, it has been selected as the treatment of choice for more than 10 million wounds worldwide2, and has been shown in several studies to provide improved clinical outcomes whilst decreasing the burden on health services compared with standard dressings3-11. V.A.C.® Therapy has been associated with:

  • Fewer hospitalisations4,6

  • Fewer complications5,6

  • Fewer amputations7,8

  • Fewer dressing changes9,10

  • Shorter hospitalisation7,8

  • Reduced treatment times11

This project is an act of great trust. But it is also a great responsibility on our part. Our biggest challenge now is to create a systematic effort to ensure uninterrupted supplies, record keeping, tracking disposables needs and ongoing feedback to hospitals using 3M™ V.A.C.™ therapies.


In addition, training opportunities for nursing staff have been agreed with Aspironix.

 

Thanks to the efforts and tireless work of @Vladimir Nechiporuk and the #Divchata_Nechiporuk team, a professional VAC community has been created. With the help of donors and partners "Patients of Ukraine" and "Dobrody Club" more than 30 VAC devices and several hundreds of consumables were delivered to hospitals at the start of the project.

 

We need $1.5 million to make our goal a reality.

 

We are calling on foundations and international organizations to join the funding and work with us to provide NPWT units to hospitals! Let's heal wounds of our people faster together! Please contact us directly or via email at [email protected].

References

  1. KCI. Percentage of V.A.C. Therapy Articles vs. Comp Articles. May 7, 2020

  2. KCI Cumulative NPWT Wounds 2018

  3. Lavery LA, Boulton AJ, Niezgoda JA, Sheehan P. A comparison of diabetic foot ulcer outcomes using negative pressure wound therapy versus historical standard of care. Int Wound J. 2007 Jun;4(2):103-13. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-481X.2007.00317.x. PMID: 17651226; PMCID: PMC7951410.

  4. Page JC, Newswander B, Schwenke DC, Hansen M, Ferguson J. Retrospective analysis of negative pressure wound therapy in open foot wounds with significant soft tissue defects. Adv Skin Wound Care. 2004 Sep;17(7):354-64. doi: 10.1097/00129334-200409000-00015. PMID: 15343085.

  5. Falagas ME, Tansarli GS, Kapaskelis A, Vardakas KZ. Impact of vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy on clinical outcomes of patients with sternal wound infections: a meta-analysis of non-randomized studies. PLoS One. 2013 May 31;8(5):e64741. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064741. PMID: 23741379; PMCID: PMC3669405.

  6. Scherer LA, Shiver S, Chang M, Meredith JW, Owings JT. The vacuum assisted closure device: a method of securing skin grafts and improving graft survival. Arch Surg. 2002 Aug;137(8):930-3; discussion 933-4. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.137.8.930. PMID: 12146992.

  7. Blume PA, Walters J, Payne W, Ayala J, Lantis J. Comparison of negative pressure wound therapy using vacuum-assisted closure with advanced moist wound therapy in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers: a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Care. 2008 Apr;31(4):631-6. doi: 10.2337/dc07-2196. Epub 2007 Dec 27. PMID: 18162494.

  8. Armstrong DG, Lavery LA; Diabetic Foot Study Consortium. Negative pressure wound therapy after partial diabetic foot amputation: a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2005 Nov 12;366(9498):1704-10. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67695-7. PMID: 16291063.

  9. Monsen C, Acosta S, Mani K, Wann-Hansson C. A randomised study of NPWT closure versus alginate dressings in peri-vascular groin infections: quality of life, pain and cost. J Wound Care. 2015 Jun;24(6):252, 254-6, 258-0. doi: 10.12968/jowc.2015.24.6.252. PMID: 26075373.

  10. Ozturk E, Ozguc H, Yilmazlar T. The use of vacuum assisted closure therapy in the management of Fournier's gangrene. Am J Surg. 2009 May;197(5):660-5; discussion 665. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2008.04.018. Epub 2008 Sep 11. PMID: 18789410.

  11. Dalla‐Paola L, Carone A, Ricci S, Russo A, Ceccacci T, Ninkovic S. Use of vacuum assisted closure therapy in the treatment of diabetic foot wounds. Journal of Diabetic Foot Complications 2010;2(2):33‐44.]

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