What Researchers Did
Clinicians treated a woman with a non-healing wound of 9 years' duration, combined with anxiety and depression, using 20 sessions of HBOT at 2.4 ATA for 120 minutes per session (Monday through Friday for 4 weeks), plus daily dressing changes, then measured wound healing and quality of life at one year.
What They Found
The wound achieved complete and lasting remission after HBOT. On standardised questionnaires (SF-36 and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), the patient also reported significant subjective improvement in quality of life, anxiety, and depression at one year after treatment.
Canadian Relevance
This study has a Canadian author (Antunes F, listed with a Canadian affiliation). Diabetic foot ulcers and certain other chronic wounds are OHIP-covered indications for HBOT in Ontario; however, this patient did not have diabetes.
Study Limitations
As a single case report in one non-diabetic patient, this finding cannot be generalized; it is also not possible to separate the effects of HBOT from the effects of consistent wound dressing and regular clinical attention.