HYPERBARIC-OXYGEN REDUCED-SIZE OF CHRONIC LEG ULCERS - A RANDOMIZED DOUBLE-BLIND-STUDY

To evaluate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on chronic wound h ealing, 16 otherwise healthy patients who had nondiabetic, chronic leg ulcers with no large vessel disease were included in a double-blind s tudy. Patients were grouped according to age and then randomly assigne d to two groups breathing either air or oxygen at 2.5 atmospheres of a bsolute pressure for 90 minutes 5 days per week for a total of 30 trea tments. The wound area was copied onto transparent film covering the w ound and then measured using only one matching wound from each patient . The mean decrease of the wound areas at weeks 2, 4, and 6 in the oxy gen group were 6 percent (SD +/- 14), 22 percent (SD +/- 13), and 35.7 percent (SD +/- 17), respectively, and in the air group, 2.8 percent (SD +/- 11), 3.7 percent (SD +/- 11), and 2.7 percent (SD +/- 11), res pectively, giving a p value less than 0.05 at week 4, and a p value le ss than 0.001 at week 6 between the groups using the Mann-Whitney U te st. These data indicate that hyperbaric oxygen therapy may be used as a valuable adjunct to conventional therapies when nondiabetic wounds d o not heal.