Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare two patient groups diagnosed with Fournier's Gangrene (FG) and treated with negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) and conventional wound dressing (CWD) methods.

Materials and Methods: 64 patients with FG, who were followed up and treated at the Urology clinic of University Hospital between January 2011 and July 2020, were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: While group 1 received CWD treatment, group 2 received NPWT. Demographic characteristics, etiology, length of stay, number of debridements, additional surgeries, Fournier Gangrene Severity Index (FGSI) scores, analgesic needs, area of necrosis and amount of involvement of the patients were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: 37 patients in group 1 and 27 patients in group 2 were included in the study. All patients were male. The mean hospital stay was 17.9 ± 1.8 days in group 1, while it was 12.7 ± 1.1 days in group 2 (p:0.91). The mean debridement numbers in Group 1 and Group 2 were 7.1 ± 0.8 and 3.7 ± 0.3, respectively (p:0.004). The mean number of daily analgesic use in Group 1 and Group 2 was 2.4 ± 0.12 and 1.44 ± 0.08, respectively (p<0.001). The mean area of necrosis was 124 ± 11.3 cm2 and 147 ± 18.1 cm2, respectively (p:0.614). In group 1 and group 2, 4 and 2 patients died, respectively (p:1.00).

Conclusion: NPWT reduced the treatment burden of this disease by reducing the number of debridements and analgesic use. However, NPWT did not reduce the length of hospital stay.

Keywords : debridements, Fournier