Patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) suffer from diabetes-related complications and comor-bidities. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a treatment modality with limited capacity used in the treatment of DFUs. It is important to ensure that HBOT is offered to patients who are suitable for this treatment regarding effect, compliance and life expectancy. The objective of the present study was to describe the population of patients with DFU who were referred to HBOT in Denmark in the 1999-2016 period. All patients with DFU who were treated at the HBOT chamber in Copenhagen during the study period were considered. Patients with an invalid social security number or an incorrect diagnosis were excluded. Data on comor-bidities, amputation and death were extracted from the Danish National patient Registry and the Danish Civil Registration System.
Outpatients who receive hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) may represent a group at significant risk of malnutrition owing to the underlying conditions that are often treated with HBOT (e.g., non-healing diabetic wounds and radiation-induced skin injury). In this issue, See and colleagues provide new, preliminary evidence of the prevalence of malnutrition in a small group of HBOT outpatients treated in an Australian hospital, reporting that approximately one-third of patients receiving HBOT were at risk of malnutrition. To our knowledge, routine malnutrition screening is not available in HBOT centres providing outpatient treatment, which may be a key gap in the nutrition care of these patients. Malnutrition screening was developed to identify those at risk of malnutrition across the healthcare continuum.
The goal of this research was to identify a population of diabetic foot ulcer patients who demonstrate a significant response to hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) using a large sample size to provide guidance for clinicians when treating these complicated patients. The effect of HBOT on diabetic foot ulcers, Wagner grades 3 and 4, was evaluated using a retrospective observational real-world data set. The study reported on the overall healing rate, (74.2%) at the population level, for >2 million wounds. When a subgroup of patients of only foot ulcers with a Wagner grade 3 or 4 were considered, the healing rate was only 56.04%. The use of HBOT, without filtering for the number of treatments received, improved the healing rate to 60.01% overall.
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) occur in over 10% of diabetic patients and are associated with high morbidity. Clinical trials have shown benefit from extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) in a DFU healing. This systematic review aims to assess the currently available evidence examining the efficacy of ESWT on healing of DFU. Electronic databases including PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Central Registry of Controlled Trials, and Clinical Trials Registry were searched up to November 2017 for terms related to ESWT in DFU. Articles were identified, and data were extracted by 2 independent reviewers onto Review Manager 5.3 software.
Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of end-stage renal failure in the western world. Current treatment of diabetic kidney disease relies on nutritional management and drug therapies to achieve metabolic control. Here, we discuss the potential application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease (DKD), a treatment which requires patients to breathe in 100% oxygen at elevated ambient pressures. HBOT has traditionally been used to diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) refractory to conventional medical treatments. Successful clinic responses seen in the DFU provide the underlying therapeutic rationale for testing HBOT in the setting of DKD. Both the DFU and DKD have microvascular endothelial disease as a common underlying pathologic feature.
Several treatment modalities and protocols for ischaemic foot ulcers are available. However, little consensus exists on optimal treatment. The aim of this study was to compare Standard Wound Care (SWC) alone SWC with adjunct hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in the treatment of ischaemic Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs). Twenty-six patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) presenting with a newly diagnosed ischaemic foot ulcer were included. These were divided into group A (SWC with adjunct HBOT) and group B (SWC only). Participants were followed every week for 4 weeks and their ulcers were measured for their surface area and depth to assess any change in wound size. Both treatment arms succeeded in reducing ulcer area and depth (p<0.001).
Although there are various types of therapeutic footwear currently used to treat diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), recent literature has enforced the concept that total-contact casts are the benchmark.Besides conventional clinical tests and imaging modalities, advanced MRI techniques and high-sensitivity nuclear medicine modalities present several advantages for the investigation of diabetic foot problems.The currently accepted principles of DFU care are rigorous debridement followed by modern wound dressings to provide a moist wound environment. Recently, hyperbaric oxygen and negative pressure wound therapy have aroused increasing attention as an adjunctive treatment for patients with DFUs.For DFU, various surgical treatments are currently available, including resection arthroplasty, metatarsal osteotomies and metatarsal head resections.
This study aimed at examining the early effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity/expression in lymphocytes of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. A group of 19 patients (mean age: 63 ± 2.1) with T1DM and with the peripheral arterial disease were included in this study. Patients were exposed to 10 sessions of HBOT in the duration of 1 h to 100% oxygen inhalation at 2.4 ATA. Blood samples were collected for the plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), plasma free fatty acid (FFA), serum nitrite/nitrate, and serum arginase activity measurements. Expression of iNOS and phosphorylation of p65 subunit of nuclear factor-B (NFB-p65), extracellular-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), and protein kinase B (Akt) were examined in lymphocyte lysates by Western blot.
To evaluate the short-duration hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can improve HbA1c levels, leukocyte count, and serum creatinine levels in patients with diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) Wagner 3-4. Blood samples from all DFU patients at Sanglah General Hospital, Denpasar, were taken for HbA1c, leukocyte, and serum creatinine test before debridement procedure, and the patients were then grouped into either standard therapy or standard therapy with HBOT for 10 sessions (combination therapy). At the end of therapy, all blood tests were resumed. Each group consisted of 15 patients. Results of laboratory analysis before and after treatment were significant regarding decrease of HbA1c levels in standard therapy (10.98 ± 2.37 % to 9.70 ± 2.46 %; p = 0.006), HbA1c levels in combination therapy (9.42 ± 1.96 % to 7.07 ± 1.16 %; p < 0.001), and leukocyte count in combination therapy (13.97 ± 6.24 x 10 cells/L to 8.84 ± 2.88 x 10 cells/L; p = 0.009).
A 23-year-old Caucasian female, with type I diabetes mellitus, presented with a 7-month history of two painful yellowish-red plaques with ulcerated centre in the left leg. A diagnosis of ulcerated necrobiosis lipoidica (NL) was made and she was started on pentoxifylline 400 mg tid and tacrolimus ointment 0.1%. After four months of treatment with no improvement, the patient was proposed for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Overall, she received a total of 30 sessions of HBOT, after which the wounds healed completely. There have been no recurrences in the 14 months following resolution.
