Objective: Spine and spinal cord injuries are devastating life altering events. Surgery is undertaken with a goal of decompressing neural structures, attempting to re-align spinal anatomy and maintaining this alignment with surgical stabilization. A number of these procedures involve posterior cervical, thoracic and lumbar approached involving multiple levels, with a majority of them being open spinal procedures.
At our Institution we have been using Negative-Pressure wound therapy as a primary post-operative dressing since 2016. Negative-pressure wound therapy as a primary dressing is being increasingly used with a goal of decreasing infection and dehiscence rates but recent literature is limited.  

Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed our patients who underwent surgery having posterior open multi-level arthrodesis in  the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine following spine trauma. 30 and 90-day outcomes were evaluated for infection, dehiscence, need for out-patient wound care .  

Results: The experience over time has been positive and we discuss our preliminary data and nuances in the use and care of these patients.

 
Conclusions: Negative-Pressure wound dressings if used appropriately add value to reduction of wound dehiscence rates and infections.

Learning Objective:  
Illustrate technical utilization of Negative-Pressure wound dressings for posterior spinal surgery