What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted a systematic review of randomized clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for healing diabetic foot ulcers and preventing amputations.
What They Found
Out of 669 identified articles, seven randomized clinical trials involving 376 patients were included. Two trials in patients with ischemic ulcers reported increased complete healing rates at 1-year follow-up (number needed to treat (NNT) 1.8 and 4.1), while a third trial found significantly lower major amputation rates (NNT 4.2) but did not report on wound healing. No differences in wound healing or amputation rates were found in trials involving non-ischemic ulcers.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
For Canadian patients with ischemic diabetic foot ulcers, hyperbaric oxygen therapy may offer a beneficial adjunctive treatment to improve wound healing or reduce major amputation risk. However, its effectiveness for non-ischemic ulcers is not supported by current evidence.
Canadian Relevance
This systematic review did not include any studies conducted in Canada, therefore direct Canadian relevance is not established.
Study Limitations
The included studies were heterogeneous, making data pooling inappropriate, and only two trials were of good methodological quality.