An interventional study of Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) Therapy Description: and Conventional Wound Dressing in Wound Healing, sponsored by Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Pakistan. Open to participants aged 15 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-21.
Sponsored by Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
This randomized controlled trial will compare vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy with conventional wound dressings for the treatment of open contaminated and dirty wounds. The study will be conducted in the Department of General Surgery, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi. Eligible patients aged 15 to 60 years with open contaminated or dirty wounds measuring 5-10 cm and classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I or II will be randomly allocated to either VAC therapy or conventional dressings. The primary outcome will be mean duration of wound healing, measured in days from initiation of the assigned treatment until complete wound healing according to predefined clinical criteria. The study will compare the duration of wound healing between the two treatment groups.
This randomized controlled trial is designed to compare the mean duration of wound healing between vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy and conventional wound dressings in patients with open contaminated or dirty wounds.
The study will be conducted in the Department of General Surgery, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi. Patients aged 15-60 years of either sex with open contaminated or dirty wounds measuring 5-10 cm and classified as ASA grade I or II will be considered for inclusion. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants before enrollment.
A total of 60 participants will be enrolled and randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to two parallel treatment groups. Group A will receive VAC therapy, while Group B will receive conventional wound dressings.
All wounds will be thoroughly irrigated with normal saline, and surgical debridement will be performed when clinically indicated. In Group A, the wound will be covered with polyurethane foam, followed by application of an airtight dressing connected to a negative-pressure system. Intermittent negative pressure of 125 mmHg will be applied using cycles of 45 minutes ON and 15 minutes OFF. VAC dressings will be changed every 48-72 hours.
In Group B, saline-soaked conventional dressings will be applied and changed every 24 hours. Participants in both groups will be assessed for wound healing and wound-related complications during the treatment period.
The primary outcome will be mean duration of wound healing, measured in days from initiation of the assigned treatment until complete wound healing according to predefined clinical criteria. Wound surface area may also be assessed as a separate secondary outcome if it is prespecified in the study protocol.
Data will be analyzed using SPSS version 23. Quantitative variables will be assessed for normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Normally distributed continuous variables will be summarized using mean and standard deviation, while non-normally distributed variables will be summarized using median and interquartile range. Categorical variables will be presented as frequencies and percentages. The duration of wound healing will be compared between groups using an independent-samples t-test or Mann-Whitney U test, as appropriate. A p-value of \<0.05 will be considered statistically significant.
315 studies on the registry are indexed under Surgical Wound; 57 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 60 is close to the median of 66 across 242 interventional studies indexed under Surgical Wound.
Browse Surgical Wound studies →Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre is the lead sponsor of 38 studies on the registry; 14 are open to participants now.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Patients having open contaminated and dirty wounds of size 5 - 10cm as per operational definition.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The anaesthetists’ scale of health before surgery: I is healthy, II has a mild illness that is under control, III a severe one, IV a severe illness that is a constant threat to life. V and VI are used for the critically ill and for organ donors.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
ASA physical status
The anaesthetists’ scale of health before surgery: I is healthy, II has a mild illness that is under control, III a severe one, IV a severe illness that is a constant threat to life. V and VI are used for the critically ill and for organ donors.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Immunosuppression
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants will receive vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy for wound management.
Device: Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) Therapy Description:
Participants will receive conventional saline-soaked wound dressings.
Other: Conventional Wound Dressing
The wound will be covered with polyurethane foam and a multi-hole drain will be placed over it. The dressing will be sealed with an airtight dressing and connected to a negative-pressure system providing intermittent negative pressure of 125 mmHg, with 45 minutes ON and 15 minutes OFF cycles. VAC dressing changes will be performed every 48-72 hours.
Saline-soaked dressing will be placed over the wound and bandage applied, with dressing changes every 24 hours
Duration of Wound Healing
Duration of wound healing, measured in days from initiation of the assigned treatment until complete wound healing according to the predefined clinical criteria. The mean duration in days will be compared between the VAC therapy and conventional dressing groups.
Time frame: From initiation of treatment until complete wound healing, up to 2 weeks.
Wound Infection
Frequency of wound infection during the treatment period, based on predefined clinical criteria.
Time frame: From initiation of treatment until completion of the 2-week follow-up period.
Length of Hospital Stay
Number of days from hospital admission until discharge.
Time frame: During the index hospital admission.
Need for Additional Surgical Intervention
Proportion of participants requiring additional surgical intervention for wound management during the study period.
Time frame: From initiation of treatment until completion of the 2-week follow-up period.
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: No — Individual participant data will not be shared with other researchers. The data will be collected and used solely for the purposes of this study and will be maintained confidentially in accordance with institutional and ethical requirements.
Start is estimated for Sep 2026; primary completion for Dec 2026, 2 months later.
Of 99 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Surgical Wound, half reached primary completion within 25 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 53. This study's planned 2 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 126 studies reached it within 18 months; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 42.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre