THE IMPACT OF ISCHEMIA ON WOUND-HEALING IS INCREASED IN OLD-AGE BUT CAN BE COUNTERED BY HYPERBARIC-OXYGEN THERAPY

The healing of normal incisional wounds and ischemic flap wounds was i nvestigated in young (10 weeks) and old (102-104 weeks) rats, together with the effect of treatment with hyperbaric oxygen on day 0-3 of hea ling. After 10 days of healing all biomechanical strength parameters o f normal wounds were decreased by 30-40% and of ischemic wounds by 40- 51% in the old animals compared with the young controls. After 20 days all strength parameters of normal wounds and ischemic wounds were dec reased by 29-37% and 46-58%, respectively, in the old rats compared wi th those of the young ones. Treatment with hyperbaric oxygen of ischem ic wounds in old animals increased all strength parameters by 36-50% a fter 10 days and by 67-88% after 20 days. For young animals, the corre sponding increase was only 21-35% after 10 days and no effect was seen after 20 days. The shrinkage of ischemic wounds was decreased by 48% in the old animals compared with the young ones. It can be concluded t hat ischemia intensifies the impairment of the healing seen in old age . On the other hand, treatment of ischemia with hyperbaric oxygen is m uch more effective in old animals, despite the fact that it also has a pronounced effect in young animals. Furthermore, the results suggest a decreased wound contraction with age.