Our Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine team designs individualized treatment plans based on each patient’s initial evaluation. The evaluation may include:
- Complete evaluation of overall health and past medical history
- Physical exam focusing on conditions contributing to impaired wound healing
- Blood work
- Vascular studies
Your treatment may include antibiotics or removal of non-living tissue. When necessary, we will also address underlying diseases that can aggravate wound healing. This may involve adjusting medications, diet, and/or lifestyle practices such as smoking. We may also recommend physical therapy.
Because successful treatment requires your involvement, we also focus on home wound care, hygiene, and exercise.
Wound management demands a team approach. This is why we closely collaborate with patients’ physicians and other health-care professionals to carefully design individualized treatment plans. Treatment team members may include: Plastic/re-constructive surgeons, vascular surgeons, foot surgeons, wound care specialists, physical therapists and nurses.
Conditions Treated
- Diabetic foot ulcers
- Venous stasis ulcers
- Arterial ulcers
- Pressure ulcers
- Burns
- Other non-healing wounds
- Certain medications
- Infections
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
Our specialized wound treatment using hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), is administered in a comfortable pressure chamber that circulates 100 percent oxygen at two to three times that of atmospheric pressure.
Your doctor is responsible for your general medical care and will work closely with the hyperbaric oxygen therapy team of specialists--a physician and nurses experienced in HBOT administration.
Medical Conditions Treated With HBOT
- Radiation injuries (cancer treatment wounds)
- Diabetic wounds of the lower extremities
- Infections
- Skin or bone infections that cause tissue death
- A crushing injury
- Skin grafts and flaps
- Chronic ischemic wounds
Benefits of HBOT
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases the amount of oxygen in your blood that is circulated to body tissues. The most common benefits of HBOT include:
- Wound healing
- Preservation of damaged tissues
- Infection control
- Increased blood vessel formation
- Increased blood vessel formation
What to Expect
During therapy, you will relax in a see-through atmosphere-controlled chamber, which is roomy enough for you to move around. You may listen to music, watch TV, nap or talk with the staff. During certain parts of the treatment, you may feel pressure in your ears similar to when you are flying in an airplane or diving in deeper water.
You will be closely monitored by the hyperbaric medicine team, to ensure your HBOT is administered safely and effectively. The hyperbaric medical team physician will discuss any possible side effects with you directly.
Hyperbaric oxygen treatments typically last 90 minutes and are administered once daily, five days a week. All diagnoses require a minimum of 30 treatments unless, upon evaluation by your team before the 30th treatment, your wound has healed or the treatment is not effective. Some patient’s treatments may be extended, depending on your response to the treatment.