Prosthetic Vascular Graft Infections: Bacterial Cultures from Negative-Pressure-Wound-Therapy Foams Do Not Improve Diagnostics.

We analyzed the diagnostic value of microorganisms cultured from negative-pressure-wound-therapy (NPWT) foam samples compared to that of microorganisms cultured from deep tissue samples from patients with vascular graft infections. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were 58%, 86%, 81%, and 66%, respectively. The diagnostic value of microbiological cultures from NPWT foams was poor.