PRESS RELEASE – Pilot study: Cold plasma shows promising effect in reducing severe wound-healing disorders after vascular surgery

Cologne/Greifswald, March 18, 2026. University Hospital Cologne publishes first clinical data from a pilot study on the intraoperative use of cold argon jet plasma in vascular surgery

A recent pilot study conducted by University Hospital Cologne shows for the first time that the use of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) during vascular surgical procedures in high-risk patients has the potential to significantly reduce wound-healing disorders requiring revision surgery. The results have now been published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine¹.

The pilot study investigated whether a brief, contact-free treatment of the wound edges (after subcutaneous suturing and before skin closure) with the argon cold plasma jet kINPen^® MED  can reduce the risk of postoperative complications in high-risk patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a chronic circulatory disorder in which the healing of surgical wounds is often impaired.

Significantly fewer complications after CAP application

A total of 50 high-risk patients took part in the study. Twenty-five of them received, in addition to standard care, a single CAP treatment of the wound edges immediately before skin closure, while 25 patients in the control group were treated according to the standard procedure without plasma.

In only 8% of patients in the CAP group, surgical revision was required due to severe wound-healing disorders—compared with 32% in the control group.

These results suggest that the intraoperative use of CAP can significantly reduce the postoperative risk of inguinal wound-healing disorders without substantially changing the surgical workflow.

Background: An unresolved problem in vascular surgery

Wound-healing disorders, especially in the groin area, are among the most common and burdensome complications after vascular surgical procedures. They lead to longer hospital stays, higher mortality, and substantial follow-up costs.

Clinical studies show that in patients with postoperative wound infections, mortality is more than twice as high (9.3% compared with 4.5%). The average length of hospital stay increases from 12 to 28 days. Treatment costs also rise significantly—to an average of EUR 19,000 compared with EUR 9,000 in uncomplicated cases². Despite modern surgical techniques, the rate of severe wound-healing problems in high-risk patients has remained almost unchanged for decades—sometimes with incidences of up to 30%^3,4,5,6,7.

The researchers led by Dr. med. Ursula Werra (University Hospital Cologne, Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Director: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Bernhard Dorweiler) therefore examined for the first time whether a single preventive intraoperative application of CAP could help reduce inguinal wound-healing disorders.

Conclusion and outlook

“Our results show that the intraoperative use of cold plasma could be a promising approach to reducing the frequency of severe wound-healing disorders in high-risk patients,” explains Dr. Ursula Werra, lead author of the study. “This first pilot study provides important indications that the prophylactic use of CAP can positively influence postoperative wound healing—certainly also, in particular, through its antibacterial effect.”

As this is a pilot study with a limited number of cases, the authors expressly emphasize the need for larger, multicenter, randomized studies to confirm the findings and further evaluate the clinical benefit.

Agency contact:

2strom – The Healthcare Agency
Dr. Natascha Terp
Ihnestraße 56
14195 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 8441407-61
presse@2stromhealthcare.de

About the study:

The full publication is available here:
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/14/21/7533

References:

1. Ursula E. M. Werra, Wael Ahmad, Michael Schoepal, Tran T. Trinh and Bernhard Dorweiler (2025). Intraoperative Application of Cold Atmospheric Plasma Reduces Inguinal Wound Healing Disorders — A Pilot Study. J Clin Med. 14 (7533)
2. Eckmann C, Kramer A, Assadian O, Flessa S, Huebner C, Michnacs K, et al. (2022). Clinical and economic burden of surgical site infections in inpatient care in Germany: A retrospective, cross sectional analysis from 79 hospitals. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0275970.
3. Robbins, J.M.; Courtney, J.; Hingorani, A. Systematic review of groin incision surgical site infection preventative measures in vascular surgery. J. Vasc. Surg. 2023, 77, 1835–1850.e2.
4. Lee, E.S.; Santilli, S.M.; Olson, M.M.; Kuskowski, M.A.; Lee, J.T. Wound infection after intrainguinal bypass operations: Multivariate analysis of putative risk factors. Surg. Infect. 2000, 1, 257–263.
5. Kuy, A.; Dua An Desai, S.; Dua Ar Patel, B.; Tondravi, N.; Seabrook, G.R.; Brown, K.R.; Lewis, B.; Lee, C.J.; Kuy, S.; Subbarayan, R.; et al. Surgical Site Infections after Lower Extremity Revascularization Procedures Involving Groin Incisions. Ann. Vasc. Surg. 2014, 28, 53–58.
6. Turtiainen, J.; Saimanen, E.; Partio, T.; Kärkkäinen, J.; Kiviniemi, V.; Mäkinen, K.; Hakala, T. Surgical Wound Infections after Vascular Surgery: Prospective Multicenter Observational Study. Scand. J. Surg. 2010, 99, 167–172.
7. Stewart, A.H.; Eyers, P.S.; Earnshaw, J.J. Prevention of infection in peripheral arterial reconstruction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J. Vasc. Surg. 2007, 46, 148–155.