Wound vac for draining cancer wound

[gkrn]

Does anyone have experience or knowledge of whether it is safe to use a wound vac on a wound that has been open for over 1 year which may be draining exudate from a dying tumor. A neighbor has had 6 surgeries to remove a tumor and the wound had not healed when it was decided to try the cyberknife for another venue. The wound is now about 4 cm deep and draining. The wife has been resistent to anything that I had to offer so I nagged her into getting a home health nurse to come out and evaluate the wound and teach her to do wound care. When the wound got infected the Dr aggreed and now they are debriding the wound and are about down to a clean wound bed. It still is draining a good deal and just wondered if anyone knew if it would be safe to use a wound vac if there is a tumor involved. It seems that it would reduce the O2 to the tumor via vaccuum but??????

[ginger58, ASN, RN]

If I remember correctly this isn't the right type wound (tumor) for a VAC. We had a breast cancer pt with such a wound in the axilla. The only thing we could do was pack it be very careful when we removed the packing. The fear was of the tumor eroding away a major blood vessel.

[sharlynn]

You are right. Wound Vac is not for wounds with malignancy.