Patent ID: 8585683

Claim:
A method comprising creating percutaneous access into a wound of an individual defined by an interior dead space having a volume enclosed between interior tissue surfaces consisting of muscle, connective, or skin tissue containing blood vessels that have been separated by surgery or trauma within a body beneath substantially intact skin, and in which extracellular blood and serous fluid escaping from the blood vessels can accumulate to form a seroma, providing a wound closure device comprising a wound drainage structure sized and configured for placement entirely within the interior dead space, the wound drainage structure comprising a perforated housing, the wound closure device comprising tubing coupled to the wound drainage structure, the tubing sized and configured to be coupled to a source of negative pressure outside the body to convey negative pressure for application internally into the interior dead space, placing the wound drainage structure within the interior dead space, extending the tubing from the interior dead space through the percutaneous access to a location outside the body, coupling the tubing to a source of negative pressure outside the body, operating the source of negative pressure to convey negative pressure at a negative pressure at 125 to 200 mmHg below ambient pressure into the wound closure device for application internally into the interior dead space, and in response to the applied negative pressure, conveying extracellular blood and serous fluid from the interior dead space through the perforated housing to draw together the separated interior tissue surfaces to promote adherence of the tissue surfaces, closure of the dead space during a wound healing process.