When you hear the words hyperbaric oxygen, you probably think of a troubled scuba diver with decompression sickness in need of immediate live-saving medical care.
But hyperbaric oxygen therapy — HBOT for short — is also a go-to therapy routinely used in wound care.
To learn the basics about HBOT, we spoke with wound care experts in the U.S. and abroad.
Many of you have worked with wound care patients needing antibiotics and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
In the 2016 Texas case of Gonzalez v. Padilla, the issue of whether the antibiotics or hyperbaric oxygen therapy were properly prescribed was a core issue in the case.
The patient was struck while riding his motorcycle and was taken to a university-based medical center with a broken lower right leg and a de-gloved heel.
An open external fixation procedure of his compound, comminuted fracture was successfully performed and a “halo type” fixation device was placed around the leg to hold the bones in place as the fracture healed.
The patient was also placed on IV antibiotics, including Gentamicin and Cefazonlin for a period of five days. In addition, he received daily wound care treatments.
The medical center’s records indicated his right leg showed “obvious evidence of continued blood flow … and no obvious necrosis beneath the heel tissue itself.”
We have all been there in our wound care careers. Before you throw in the towel or pull your hair out in frustration, take a step back and make sure you started the process in the correct manner.
First, ensure you have successfully addressed all the basics of wound healing:
Then review treatments that can accelerate the healing process. You have to build your treatment plan on a solid foundation of basic approaches before considering more expensive, adjunctive modalities.
Printing human skin to heal large wounds might sound like something straight out of science fiction, but patients suffering from chronic wounds and pressure ulcers soon might have access to this treatment.
Scientists at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina have created the first mobile skin bioprinting system, which will allow bi-layered skin to be printed directly into a wound.
“The unique aspect of this technology is the mobility of the system and the ability to provide on-site management of extensive wounds by scanning and measuring them in order to deposit the cells directly where they are needed to create skin,” Sean Murphy, PhD, a WFIRM assistant professor, said in a news release.
Murphy was the lead author of a paper published earlier this year in Nature’s Scientific Reports journal.
When durable medical equipment Manuka honey isn’t available to treat a chronic wound, can over-the-counter (OTC) honey products serve as an effective substitute? Poster presenters from the 2018 Wild On Wounds national conference looked for evidence in two case studies.
Despite rapid developments in new wound care technology, clinicians are turning to an ancient approach to speed healing and control bioburden: honey.
As early as 3,000 BC, Egyptians and other civilizations relied on honey as a topical wound treatment. With the discovery of antibiotics, however, honey quickly fell out of favor.
As antibiotic resistance drives the search for alternatives today, therapeutic honey enjoys renewed attention from researchers.
Most of the studies on medicinal honey focus on durable medical equipment products, which typically contain honey extracted from the nectar of a Manuka tree.
Based on the evidence, medical-grade Manuka honey has gained esteem among wound care professionals for its increased antimicrobial action compared to other types of honey. Studies also suggest medical-grade Manuka honey contains compounds that jump-start stalled wounds, reduce odor and accelerate healing.