Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a high-powered parallel waterjet for wound debridement

Current concepts of wound healing acknowledge the essential role of wound bed preparation in achieving a wound with good healing potential. Critical to wound bed preparation is the removal of necrosis, unhealthy tissue, foreign matter, and infection. One of the accepted methods of wound bed preparation is surgery. The high-power parallel waterjet is a new surgical device, which allows the operator to remove very precisely undesirable tissue and debris with maximal preservation of viable tissue. A retrospective study was performed to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and economic impact of using this technique of surgical debridement. Forty patients who had waterjet debridements were compared with 22 patients with matched wounds who had conventional surgical debridement. The waterjet group had significantly fewer procedures (p < 0.002) than the conventional group. Based on these outcomes, the use of the new device in appropriate patients is expected to lead to cost savings of approximately $1,900 per patient.