Dog Diagnoses, Treats Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Infection control and limb salvage with hyperbaric oxygen therapy is just one of several modern (and strongly preferable) alternatives to this home remedy.

HBOT Saving Lives, Limbs After Haiti Quake

That's not the American hospital ship USS Comfort but the Italian carrier Cavour bringing hyperbaric wound care to earthquake victims in Haiti. The two are now working side by side offshore. Captain Gianluigi Reversi reports his ship's chamber—the only HBOT facility in the vicinity—has treated 30 patients and already "saved several legs and arms from amputation."

No doubt many of the Cavour's patients have suffered crush injuries. CNN's Dr Sanjay Gupta and other correspondents and first responders have been struck by the challenges of such complex wounds. Crush injuries may often lead to kidney failure by rhabdomyolysis, which the CDC has identified as one of the most urgent health concerns in the aftermath of the quake.

"If head injuries are the hallmark of the war in Afghanistan, the Haiti earthquake will be known for crush injuries," said Gupta.

Read the full report, "Crush injuries can be deceptively dangerous," at CNN.com.

Hyperbaric Wound Care: Business Is Good

Perhaps the surest indicator of HBOT's future growth is the present success of hundreds of hyperbaric wound care clinics. The current issue of HealthLeaders magazine counts wound care among the top 4 emerging service lines in hospitals today, with continued demand assured by the increasing prevalance of diabetes. Advanced wound care programs featuring hyperbaric oxygen therapy have enjoyed especially high volumes and reliable returns on investment. Most physicians today can handle basic wound care in their own offices, the author observes, and "will only refer to a clinic that can provide more advanced treatments."

If they can find it. Seems all the best advanced wound care clinics are buried a dozen pages deep in their medical center websites. In the days and weeks ahead we'll be working hard to include more HBOT clinics managed by national wound care companies in our treatment center directory, where referring physicians can find and compare them with just a click or two.

And in time, we trust, many of these chambers will be accessible to more physicians and more patients seeking HBOT for diseases and conditions beyond wound care.

HBOT Cost-Effective For Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Because diabetes impedes circulation, it impedes the normal healing process. That's why chronic wounds, especially foot ulcers, so often threaten life and limb in patients with diabetes. We spend billions every year to reduce amputations and increase quality of life.

A review article published June 1 in Podiatry Today cites an impressive body of evidence that HBOT is a cost-effective treatment for diabetic foot ulcers. In fact, the authors observe:

Data confirm that many wounds remain hypoxic even after revascularization. Healing will not occur unless one corrects the hypoxia. Among all modalities tested over the past 10 years, the currently available research has demonstrated that only HBOT corrects tissue hypoxia.

Italics ours. Patient selection (a key to success) and treatment dosages may someday be guided by transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcPO2) or other in-chamber measurements.