What Researchers Did
Indian surgeons randomized 64 trauma patients to receive either standard care or standard care plus HBOT after skin graft surgery, measuring how well the skin graft took hold and how quickly the donor site healed.
What They Found
On day 4, graft attachment was 92.4% in the HBOT group versus 88.1% in controls (p = 0.036). By day 7, the HBOT group maintained 91.7% attachment while controls dropped to 83.1% (p = 0.026). Donor sites healed in 15.2 days with HBOT versus 18.0 days without (p < 0.001). The control group had more serious complications including graft loss and one death from sepsis.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
Skin graft surgery for burns or traumatic wounds is commonly performed at Canadian trauma centres. Adding HBOT after grafting could improve graft survival and speed healing by nearly 3 days at the donor site, reducing infection risk and hospital stays.
Canadian Relevance
Compromised skin grafts are an OHIP-covered indication for HBOT in Ontario. This RCT directly supports the clinical use of HBOT in this patient population.
Study Limitations
The study was conducted at a single centre in India, and the patient population (ages 18–60 with traumatic wounds) may not fully represent Canadian trauma patients.