The State of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in the Treatment of Diabetic Foot

Abstract

Treatment of lower extremity wounds in diabetic patients is generally unsatisfactory. Morbidity is huge, and significant percentage of patients undergo high level amputation. We wanted to promote wound healing in these patients by increasing oxygen delivery through the defective microcirculation by the use of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO). Ten diabetic patients with lower limb injuries were treated with HBO which 100% O<inf>2</inf> inhalation in a pressurised chamber at 2.4 ATA. This treatment was carried out daily for 90 minutes for 20 days pre-operatively, and 10 days post-operatively. One of our 10 patients healed secondarily, 6 patients were treated with surgery, 2 patients underwent below-knee amputation and 1 patient died from systemical complications of diabetes mellitus. According to this study, we observed the morbidity rate was decreased in comparison of traditional expectations.