Amputation predictors in diabetic foot ulcers treated with hyperbaric oxygen

OBJECTIVE: Although hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has long been used for diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), its effectiveness is still controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of HBOT in the management of DFUs and identify amputation predictors. METHOD: Patients with chronic DFUs (Wanger grade 2-5) were included in the study, which took place between January 2010 and December 2012. HBOT, 100% oxygen, 2.4 atmosphere absolute (ATA) for 120 minutes, was administered to all patients in addition to standard treatment. DFUs were monitored for at least 3 years, or until healing or amputation occurred. RESULTS: Patients with a total of 146 chronic DFUswere recruited. Complete healing (69.6%) and significant improvement (17.9%) was observed in 87.5% of the patients. The cases with no improvement resulted in amputation (minor amputation: 15.0%; major amputation: 8.2%). The duration of diabetes (p=0.037), new wound formation (p=0.045), C-reactive protein (p=0.001) and Wagner grade (p=0.0001) were correlated with amputation in multiple regression analysis. Mortality was higher in the amputation group than in the non-amputation group (47.1 % versus 21.4 %, p=0.007). CONCLUSION: The inclusion of HBOT with standard treatment and a multidisciplinary approach may be useful in the treatment of DFUs. We found the most important predictors of amputation to be Wagner grade and wound infection. Multicentre, prospective, randomised studies are needed to provide more evidence.