Inexpensive Negative-Pressure Device Proves Useful

A US$3 negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) device developed by students has proved useful in treating wounds in postearthquake Haiti.

Engineering students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, USA), with the help of Robert Sheridan, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH: Boston, USA) have developed a simple, inexpensive, and lightweight version of a NPWT system that required no power supply and could be left in place for days. The device, a cylinder with accordion-like folds, is squeezed to create the suction, and then left in place, connected to the underside of the wound dressing by a thin plastic tube. The device is designed so that it could be manufactured locally in many developing nations, using equipment that is commonly found in most countries.


The manually operated pump relies on a perfect peripheral seal to ensure low pressure inside the wound, which means that effectively, it probably can only be delivered by an expensive tegaderm-like dressing. The students travelled to Haiti with a supply of 50 of the current version of the plastic, molded pumps to test the device, led by Robert Riviello, M.D., of the division of trauma, burn, and surgical critical care at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA, USA).

"Our biggest challenge at the moment is ensuring a reliably intact seal on human skin that can be easily applied,” said Dr. Riviello. "If we can resolve this, then I think there is enormous potential. The device has the potential to be a great benefit to patients around the world.”

"In the short term, we systematically evaluated the wounds, and were able to verify that negative-pressure therapy was being applied and the healing process was underway,” said one of the students, Danielle Zurovcik, who made the project part of her master's thesis. She plans to go to Rwanda in the fall to test the newer version of the device, which is small enough to carry in a pocket. "Their clinics are filled with wounds. The clinics themselves don't have power, don't have a lot of supplies. I'd like to be able to bring something simple, that patients would be able to care for on their own.”

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Brigham and Women's Hospital