Prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in laparotomy wounds (PROPEL-2): protocol for a randomized clinical trial

Background: A proportion of patients undergoing midline laparotomy will develop surgical site infections after surgery. These complications place considerable financial burden on healthcare economies and have negative implications for patient health and quality of life. The prophylactic application of negative pressure wound therapy devices has been mooted as a pragmatic strategy to reduce surgical site infections. Nevertheless, further availability of multicentre randomized clinical trial data evaluating the prophylactic use of negative pressure wound therapy following midline laparotomy is warranted to definitely provide consensus in relation to these closure methods, while also deciphering potential differences among subgroups. The aim of this study is to determine whether prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy reduces postoperative wound complications in patients undergoing midline laparotomy.

Methods: PROPEL-2 is a multicentre prospective randomized clinical trial designed to compare standard surgical dressings (control arm) with negative pressure wound therapy dressings (Prevena™ and PICO™ being the most commonly utilized). Patient recruitment will include adult patients aged 18 years or over, who are indicated to undergo emergency or elective laparotomy. To achieve 90% power at the 5% significance level, 1006 patients will be required in each arm, which when allowing for losses to follow-up, 10% will be added to each arm, leaving the total projected sample size to be 2013 patients, who will be recruited across a 36-month enrolment period.

Conclusion: The PROPEL-2 trial will be the largest independent multicentre randomized clinical trial designed to assess the role of prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy in patients indicated to undergo midline laparotomy. The comparison of standard treatment to two commercially available negative pressure wound therapy devices will help provide consensus on the routine management of laparotomy wounds. Enrolment to PROPEL-2 began in June 2023. 

Registration number: NCT05977816 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).