[Surgical treatment for chronic leg ulcer].

Leg ulcers pose a therapeutic challenge due to a chronic healing process. Conservative wound dressings are initially the treatment of choice, but their effectiveness in therapy-refractory wounds is limited. In these cases, multiple mechanical debridement in combination with split-thickness skin grafts (STSG) are a simple and safe treatment option for ulcer coverage. Additional therapy with negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) improves the surgical outcome by promoting ulcer granulation, continuous elimination of exsudate and blood as well as increased contact pressure on the skin graft. After transplantation, the split skin graft requires daily wound dressings until it has fully healed after approximately 3 weeks.