ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomechanics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1568540
This article is part of the Research TopicUnder Pressure: Insights on negative pressure wound therapy in the emergency settingView all 3 articles
Finite Element and Preclinical Analysis of Tissue Response to Negative Pressure Wound Therapy with a Felted Foam Containing 10mm Through Holes
Provisionally accepted
- Solventum, St. Paul, United States
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Not all wound patients are candidates for surgical debridement. A felted, reticulated open cell foam with an array of 10 mm holes (VFCC) for use with installation therapy has been used to eliminate non-viable material from patient wound beds. The mechanisms for this have not been fully elucidated. The current study elaborates the biomechanical stresses, strains and work imparted to tissue with VFCC versus commonly used reticulated open cell foam (ROCF) dressings. Finite element analysis (FEA) measured strain and deformation occurring at the tissue interface with VFCC or ROCF.FEA results were compared to those in a preclinical, porcine sloughy wound model. The peak maximum principal strain imparted to tissue at -125mmHg with VFCC was 27.8% versus 0.9% with ROCF. The frictional work around the holes in the VFCC was 0.179 mJ while negligible with ROCF. The FEA model predicted high strains at the sides of the macrodomes of tissue pulled into the through holes and was consistent with slough removal in the preclinical study. Frictional work around the 10mm holes in the VFCC may pin the tissue leading to higher strain energy densities as tissue is pulled into the holes allowing for fracturing and removal of devitalized tissue.
Keywords: Vacuum Assisted Closure (VAC), Debridement, Finite Element Analysis, negative pressure wound therapy with instillation, Strain, Friction
Received: 30 Jan 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 McNulty, Wilkes, Marchand, Ingram, Mann and Sieracki. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Amy K. McNulty, Solventum, St. Paul, United States
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