Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2023; 11(28): 6812-6816
Published online Oct 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i28.6812
Application of negative pressure wound therapy after skin grafting in the treatment of skin cancer: A case report
Gao-Shi Huang, Ke-Chen Xu
Gao-Shi Huang, Department of Surgery, Wuyi First People's Hospital, Wuyi 321200, Zhejiang Province, China
Ke-Chen Xu, Clinical Laboratory, Wuyi First People's Hospital, Wuyi 321200, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Xu KC and Huang GS is mainly responsible for the arrangement of medical records, paper writing and revision.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was signed with the patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ke-Chen Xu, MPhil, Chief Technician, Clinical Laboratory, Wuyi First People's Hospital, No. 2 Nanmen Street, Wuyi 321200, Zhejiang Province, China. 8015059@zju.edu.cn
Received: May 26, 2023
Peer-review started: May 26, 2023
First decision: August 24, 2023
Revised: September 1, 2023
Accepted: September 11, 2023
Article in press: September 11, 2023
Published online: October 6, 2023
Processing time: 122 Days and 5.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Skin cancer is a common malignant tumor in dermatology. A large area must be excised to ensure a negative incisal margin on huge frontotemporal skin cancer, and it is difficult to treat the wound. In the past, treatment with skin grafting and pressure dressing was easy to cause complications such as wound infections, subcutaneous effusion, skin necrosis, and contracture. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has been applied to treat huge frontotemporal skin cancer.

CASE SUMMARY

Herein, we report the case of a 92-year-old woman with huge frontotemporal skin cancer. The patient presented to the surgery department complaining of ruptured bleeding and pain in a right frontal mass. The tumor was pathologically diagnosed as highly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The patient underwent skin cancer surgery and skin grafting, after which NPWT was used. She did not experience a relapse during the three-year follow-up period.

CONCLUSION

NPWT is of great clinical value in the postoperative treatment of skin cancer. It is not only inexpensive but also can effectively reduce the risk of surgical effusion, infection, and flap necrosis.

Keywords: Skin cancer; Negative pressure wound therapy; Skin grafting; Case report

Core Tip: The most common types of skin cancer include cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), cutaneous basal cell carcinoma, and cutaneous malignant melanoma. The main treatment options are surgery and radiotherapy. We report a 92-year-old woman with skin cancer who had a 4 cm × 5 cm mass on the right forehead. A pathological examination of the right frontal mass confirmed the diagnosis of highly differentiated SCC. After surgical treatment, Negative pressure wound therapy was adjunct. We found that this technology helps to reduce the risk of surgical effusion, infection, and flap necrosis. No recurrence was observed during the three-year follow-up. The patient is still alive.