RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Evaluation of low-cost custom made VAC

therapy compared with conventional wound dressings in the treatment of non-healing lower limb ulcers in lower socio-economic group patients of Kashmir valley Zameer Ali*, Afshan Anjum, Lubna Khurshid, Hamayun Ahad, Saheel Maajid and Shabir Ahmad Dhar Background: Negative-pressure wound therapy is a technique to achieve wound healing in patients with non-healing wounds of the lower limb; vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy is a technique to accelerate the healing of non-healing ulcers that fail to heal on their own (primary healing) (Plast Reconstr Surg 117:193–209S, 2006). Delayed wound healing or non-healing of ulcers is a significant health problem, particularly in older adults. The efficacy of VAC dressings has been demonstrated in several randomized controlled studies, which have shown significantly faster wound healing rates compared to conventional wound therapy (Lancet 366:1704–10, 2005; J Wound Care 17:426–32, 2008). However, commercially available VAC is costly. The aim of using custom made VAC was decided by our team due to lower socio-economic status of patients taken for study who could not have afforded charges of commercially available VAC unit