What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted a review of available literature to appraise the evidence for hyperbaric oxygen use on composite grafts, skin grafts, random flaps, distant flaps, and free flaps.
What They Found
The review found a significant amount of animal data supporting hyperbaric oxygen for grafts and flaps. However, clinical evidence was largely limited to case reports and series, with very few robust studies to support its use over other treatments.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
Current evidence does not strongly support hyperbaric oxygen as a primary or adjunctive treatment for grafts and flaps based on robust clinical trials. Patients should discuss alternative or established therapies with their healthcare providers until more definitive clinical research is available.
Canadian Relevance
This study has no direct Canadian connection as none of the authors are Canadian and the research was not conducted in Canada.
Study Limitations
A key limitation of this review is the scarcity of high-quality clinical data, with most evidence derived from animal studies and limited human case reports or series.