Negative Pressure Wound Therapy as a Drug Delivery System (ADANPWT)

The investigators plan a randomized clinical trial of 150 patients with infected diabetes-related lower extremity wounds to compare the clinical and economic effectiveness of negative pressure wound therapy with continuous irrigation and negative pressure wound therapy without irrigation. The investigators will enroll 150 patients from two centers: The University of Texas Southwestern University Hospital and Parkland Hospital. The investigators will screen and enroll patients with wounds in the inpatient setting. Patients will randomized to receive traditional NPWT or NPWT with continuous irrigation while they are hospitalized. The average hospitalization for patents that receive NPWT is 13.3 days. Patients that do not have their wound surgically closed during hospitalization will be discharged with negative pressure wound therapy without irrigation for up to a total of four weeks of therapy. After discharge from the hospital, subjects will be seen twice weekly by home health, and the investigators will evaluate subjects in clinic every 7 days (±7 days) for a total of 16-week period or until the wound heals.