Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can effectively treat diabetic foot wounds / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To observe the effect of supplementing vacuum sealing drainage with hyperbaric oxygen in the short term treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.Methods:A total of 156 persons diagnosed with diabetic foot ulcers were randomly divided into a control group and a treatment group, each of 78. Both groups received life guidance and active treatment to lower blood sugar and lipids, as well as anti-infection treatment guided by bacterial cultures. Both groups′ wounds were debrided. The wound was then covered with foam, sealed, and negative pressure of -75 to -100mmHg was applied during 1 week of drainage. Two courses of this treatment were applied. In addition, the treatment group received hyperbaric oxygen daily during the two weeks. The exposure pressure was incrased to 0.25MPa over 15min with 100% oxygen. That was inhaled in two 30min sessions with a 10min interval. The pressure then decompressed at a constant rate for 25 minutes. Wound healing, hemorheology, wound granulation tissue staining and any changes in TGF-β1 were observed before as well as after 7 and 14 days of the treatment.Results:The average wound size and symptom score of both groups had improved significantly after the treatment, with the largest effect in the treatment group during the first week. Both groups′ hemorheology had improved significantly after one week, but the treatment group′s improvement was greater. After 2 weeks, however, there was no significant difference in the average hemorheologic indicators for either group compared with before the treatment. Hematoxylin-eosin staining of the wound tissues showed that there were many inflamed cells before the treatment, with relatively little fresh granulation tissue or new blood vessels. After one week of treatment much new granulation tissue was observed under the microscope in both groups, with no significant difference between them. One week later, there was still much granulation tissue in the control group, but slightly less in the treatment group. The ave-rage post-treatment TGF-β1 protein levels in the wound tissues of both groups were significantly higher than before the treatment, but after two weeks the average TGF-β1 protein level had decreased significantly in the treatment group compared with the control group.Conclusions:One week of hyperbaric oxygen treatment can effectively improve the hemorheology of persons with diabetic foot ulcers, promote the proliferation of granulation tissue and fibroblasts, and increase the level of TGF-β1 protein in the wound tissues. However, the effects of hyperbaric oxygen treatment weaken gradually with time.