Development and Clinical Testing of a Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Device

The healing rate of a wound can be increased by applying a controlled negative pressure externally. This treatment method is known as negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). NPWT can be used for treating wounds which usually take a long time to heal or do not heal at all when treated using conventional treatment methods. International organizations have already developed NPWT machines, but due to their high cost, only a limited number of machines are available in Sri Lanka. A low cost NPWT machine has already been developed at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DoME), University of Moratuwa (UoM) in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. Although conceptually the device has been accepted by medical professionals further research is needed for improvement of performance for practical usage. Thus in the present study, low cost portable NPWT device was built and clinical tests were carried out successfully under the medical professionals at the General Hospital Colombo.