Abstract: Objective To explore the clinical effect of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in emergency limb-salvage operation of destructive injury of limb. Methods From July 2014 to December 2017, 43 patients with destructive injury of limb in one side conformed to the inclusion criteria were admitted to our hospital. The patients were divided to NPWT group of 24 patients [ 21 males and 3 females, aged (38±10) years] and routine dressing change group of 19 patients [ 17 males and 2 females, aged (37±10) years] according to their treatment methods. After the emergency debridement, fracture external fixation, neurovascular exploration, and microsurgical repair were performed, NPWT were applied on wounds of patients in NPWT group and routine dressing change treatment on wounds of patients in routine dressing change group. On 7 to 10 days after the emergency operation, incidence of arterial embolism of patients in the two groups were calculated, and condition of wound infection of patients in the two groups were observed. Complete wound healing time and survival condition of limb were recorded. Data were processed with independent sample t test or chi-square test. Results Incidence of arterial embolism of patients in NPWT group on 7 to 10 days after the emergency operation was 6.67% (3/45), which was close to 5.56% (2/36) of patients in routine dressing change group (χ²=0.043, P>0.05). There was 1 patient with wound infection in NPWT group on 7 to 10 days after the emergency operation, obviously less than 6 patients in routine dressing change group (χ²=5.847, P<0.05). Complete wound healing time of patients in NPWT group was (30±4) d, significantly shorter than (36±8) d of patients in routine dressing change group (t=2.813, P<0.01). Limbs of 24 patients in NPWT group survived, which was close to 18 patients in routine dressing change group (χ²=1.293, P>0.05). Conclusions NPWT can significantly reduce tthe wound infection rate and shorten the time of wound healing of limb with destructive injury after emergency operation, which is worthy of popularization in clinic.