- Note - This is old news...and another one of those better-late-than-never
reports. It has been known for years that ozone/oxygen mixtures blown
directly onto external cuts and wounds will help them heal much faster
than normal. Not only does the ozone/oxygen kill viruses and bacteria
on contact in a wound but the added boost in oxygen clearly enhances tissue
repair and regeneration. Perhaps you recall the two young Seattle area
boys...maybe it was three...who were critical from Group A strep infections?
As a last ditch effort to save them, they were all placed in hyperbaric
oxygen chambers. They all recovered. Unfortunately, that big success
went right over the heads of mainstream medicine. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers
and direct application of oxygen ...preferably mixed with 2% ozone (which
is just 03 as opposed to 02)...should be a standard treatment for skin
infections and wounds. --ed
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- COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new study
suggests that brief exposures to pure oxygen not only help chronic and
other hard-to-heal wounds heal completely, such exposures also help wounds
heal faster.
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- Ohio State University surgical scientists used topical
oxygen therapy to treat 30 patients with a total of 56 wounds. The therapy
required placing a bag containing pure oxygen over the wound for 90 minutes
a day. More than two-thirds of the difficult wounds healed with the oxygen
treatment alone.
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- Wounds in this clinical study ranged from post-surgical
wounds to injuries resulting from acute trauma to ulcers such as diabetic
hand ulcers and bedsores. Many of the patients had conditions like diabetes
that hindered wound healing.
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- Ultimately, more than two-thirds (38 out of 56) of the
wounds healed with the oxygen treatment alone. Four additional wounds required
surgery for complete closure. Altogether, three-quarters of the wounds
healed with the use of topical oxygen.
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- "The quality of closure is very impressive,"
said Chandan Sen, the study's lead author and director of the Wound Healing
Research Program in Ohio State's department of surgery. "There was
much less scarring than we had anticipated."
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- "In most cases, the amount of residual scar tissue
in the healed wounds after oxygen therapy appeared to be substantially
less than we would expect after treatment with more standard forms of wound
care," said Gayle Gordillo, a study co-author and a plastic surgeon
at Ohio State. "There was less defective tissue in the area once the
wound healed."
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- The research appears in the current issue of the journal
Pathophysiology. Sen and Gordillo conducted the clinical case series study
with Richard Schlanger, director of Ohio State's wound healing clinic,
and Loree Kalliainen, of Ohio State's department of surgery.
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- Physicians at the university's medical center monitored
participants for up to nine months.
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- The study included people who had wounds that failed
to heal with standard treatments, such as with stitches or the addition
of wound care creams, and wounds at high risk of developing healing problems
after surgery.
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- Topical oxygen treatment was delivered with an inflatable,
see-through plastic bag with edges that adhered to the skin. It was secured
around the affected limb or wounded area, and pure oxygen was administered
for 90 minutes a day for four days, followed by a three-day rest period.
This cycle was repeated for as long as the wound appeared to be healing.
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- Participants were treated in the hospital, in their homes
or in extended care facilities. Treatment duration ranged from 24 days
to about eight months.
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- Photos were taken before, during, and at the completion
of the therapy. Wounds were considered healed once they were completely
covered with epithelial tissue. Follow up ranged from less than one month
to eight months. When a wound hadn't begun to heal after 16 weeks, physicians
attempted to close the injury with surgery.
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- Acute traumatic and post-surgical injuries had the best
healing rates: such wounds on the trunk, arms and hands had a 75 percent
and 100 percent healing rate, respectively. Half of all acute wounds on
the legs and feet healed. Chronic wounds that responded well to the oxygen
therapy included venous stasis ulcers (92 percent healing rate) and diabetic
hand ulcers (91 percent healing rate), while bedsores had a less encouraging
44 percent healing rate.
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- "The differences in healing rates reinforce a link
between other health conditions, such as diabetes and obesity, and wound
healing outcomes," said Sen, who is also the associate director of
the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. Most patients in the study
had at least one health condition, such as diabetes, cancer or an active
infection.
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- Overall, the wounds least responsive to topical oxygen
therapy were post-surgical wounds on the legs and feet, pressure ulcers
and neuropathic foot ulcers.
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- "While topical oxygen helps wounds heal, it alone
may not be adequate for managing lower extremity wounds and bedsores,"
Sen said. "For these types of injuries, topical oxygen may be helpful
as an adjunct to surgery or other forms of standard wound care.
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- "However, it is a good alternative to traditional
wound-healing treatments for people with chronic wounds or wounds that
have a high chance of healing poorly," he said. "There have been
no reported side effects from topical oxygen treatment, and the majority
of chronic wounds in this study plus all of the acute wounds either healed
or decreased in size during therapy."
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- Topical oxygen chambers, which have FDA approval, may
also be a more cost-effective treatment choice, too.
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- "The cost of a home health-care nurse can run $100
an hour," said Gordillo. "If a person can take two weeks off
his expected healing time, the cost of using topical oxygen will probably
pay for itself."
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- "The alternative to topical oxygen therapy, high-pressure
chamber oxygen therapy, is considerably more expensive," Sen said.
"Also, it's not readily applicable to all wound patients, as some
are sensitive to high levels of oxygen.
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- "Topical oxygen is a simple form of therapy which,
if necessary, many people could use at once, such as in the case of a public
disaster," he said. "These bags are also suitable for use in
the field, so the treatment may be an option for deployed military troops.
Further research testing the potential of topical oxygen therapy is warranted."
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- The researchers received the topical oxygen chambers
used in this study from GWR Medical, Inc. The researchers have no financial
interests in this company.
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- Note: This story has been adapted from a news release
issued for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to
quote any part of this story, please credit Ohio State University as the
original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any
citation:
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- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/01/030128075444.htm
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